The county commission has fired off a letter to state and national legislative representatives outlining the importance of funding for the newly formed Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

While the commission reiterated its opposition to "vague language" designating the monument and its overall intrusiveness, they also felt supporting a federal appropriations amendment to block funding for the monument was equally ill-advised, fearing that such obstacles would cause "the management of the area to drift on the basis of ‘interim guidelines.’"

"There are those who think that without funding, this monument could go away, but it will not," said Commissioner Gene Story on Monday.

U.S. Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah) recently attached an amendment to a Bureau of Land Management appropriations bill requesting that funding be blocked for four national monuments announced last week by the Clinton Administration, including Canyons of the Ancients in Montezuma and Dolores Counties. Hansen and other Western representatives, including U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), are dissatisfied with what they see as ominous federal intervention in local public lands without congressional or adequate local participation on management.

But, according to Josh Penry, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.), the amendment to the BLM appropriations bill will not likely make it through both the House and the Senate, considering the Clinton administration’s recent emphasis on land preservation.

"Our position is absolutely clear in that we will support increase in funding and for these BLM lands," Penry said. "The worst thing that can happen to your community is that President Clinton comes in on his white horse, forces a national monument and then does not provide the funding."

Penry emphasized that McInnis is "100 percent in agreement with the county commissioners, and he will not support that amendment," adding that it would be vetoed anyway if it did manage to survive legislative scrutiny.

"Clinton has put a lot of emphasis on these national monument designations, so it’s unlikely that he would ever sign a piece of legislation that had that rider attached to it," he said. "That being the case, we are also sympathetic to the argument held by many around the West against monuments. This is the only defense that they feel they have against the administration, but the worst thing we can do is to give a new monument but no money to manage the land."

That’s of critical importance to the county because without additional funding, county resources may dwindle from the pressure to accommodate increased visitation. This was a critical point in the commissioners’ letter, which was also sent to Hansen’s office.

"It is our understanding that visitation to the Grand Staircase-Escalante increased 250 percent upon monument designation ... key areas of concern (include) the impact on services such as road maintenance, search and rescue, fire protection and law enforcement," the commission’s letter states.

Sand Canyon, an area that saw more than 16,000 visitors last year and is being "loved to death," has the potential to grow to more than 25,000 visits per year now that it is on the national monument radar screen, reported Montezuma County federal lands coordinator Mike Preston,

"Is Sand Canyon ready for all of that growth?" asked Commissioner Kent Lindsay. "I don’t think so, and without funding it will fall back on the county."

Without adequate funding, the county fears essential cornerstones of the community’s economic and social resources will be put at risk, including grazing, oil and gas production (which contributes 30 percent of the county tax base), and recreational use. The commissioners are worried that without additional funding the BLM might be forced to shut down the area to all uses, just as the Forest Service has had to do with some campgrounds that were left out of the budgeting process, leaving them uncared for and vulnerable to degradation.

"The community is adamant about the protection of multiple use, and we cannot allow the deterioration of archaeological resources to be used as a pretext for restricting these rights, privileges and activities including archaeological researchers," the letter stated.

It went on to request that all involved "move immediately and decisively to put our local imprint on the management of this area. We are not at all comfortable with the vague language in the Proclamation, and feel that it would be risky to let the management of this area drift on the basis of ‘interim guidelines’ established without local involvement."

Rather than support opposition amendments that would hamstring local ability to manage public lands effectively, the commissioners urged McInnis and Campbell to get on board with similar bills introduced in the House and Senate this session that call for a more local participatory process when establishing national monuments.