Regional speakers delved into a wide sweep of controversial land, water, and wildlife issues at last Thursday’s locally sponsored "Discussion of Emerging Conservation Issues and Solutions."

The day-long conference drew 107 area residents to the Cortez Conference Center to hear speakers address topics ranging from the Endangered Species Act to methane capture and fuel-cell uses.

Of particular interest to those in attendance were comments made by Norman Carroll, a Kane County commissioner from Orderville, Utah, whose county includes Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Carroll said that since its designation the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has turned the county’s resource-based economy to one based on tourism and services. He estimated that the county’s 7,000 residents have lost 1,000 higher-paying jobs with benefits since the monument was established.

From his own experience, Carroll advised county residents on how to face challenges in managing the new Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Montezuma County.

• Carroll said the county commissioners should develop a current county land-use plan that accurately designates the interface and interaction between private and federal lands.

• They should also appoint a resource committee to investigate specific issues involved in the planning process such as access, water, grazing, environment, and recreation.

• The public needs to be proactive in the planning process, and encourage others to attend public meetings. "You’re going to have to deal with the issue," he said. "Don’t pass up the chance to design the future of your community."

• The public should also cooperate and work with elected officials and specifically with the monument’s federal agents. "They can be the best friends you’ve got," he said.

• In addition, Carroll urged the community to educate their children on natural-resource issues. "We do know we’re going to have to protect our resources if we want to have a future."

Carroll also urged the community to support full federal funding for the monument.

Marietta Eaton, an Escalante-Grand Staircase division chief from Kanab, Utah, also spoke and answered questions about monument issues.

"Our largest challenge," she said, "was to promote a locally but not nationally unpopular monument."

She emphasized finding and working from the points of agreement between diverse interest groups involved in the planning process. "You will have a lot more interest from the national community regarding how these things are conducted," she warned.

There are 16,000 acres of private inholdings within the park. Eaton said that 200 acres were acquired after the designation, but that the process involves only willing sellers. "We will not be approaching people, asking them to sell," she said.

William Perry Pendley, president and chief legal officer of Mountain States Legal Foundation, spoke about private property rights.

Mountain States Legal Foundation and the Utah Association of Counties are challenging the 1996 designation by President Clinton of the Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument as an unconstitutional use of the 1906 Antiquities Act.

Mountain States Legal Foundation is a non-profit, public-interest legal center based in Denver.

Audience members asked numerous questions of Tim Davis and Jennie Slater, from the Colorado Division of Wildlife, about the Endangered Species Act.

Davis and Slater explained the different partnership programs available between landowners and the federal government to ease the difficulties of providing habitat for endangered and threatened species.

The Endangered Species Act of 1974 was enacted to protect species from extinction. Colorado maintains its own list of candidate, threatened, and endangered species as well.

Slater said that if landowners are proactive, they can significantly improve the habitat of possible candidate species and keep them from being listed.

Mike Preston, Montezuma County federal lands coordinator, spoke about "smart growth for Montezuma County." Preston talked about ways to preserve open spaces while providing for the rising population in the county.

"In landscape-based communities, land-use issues need to be approached in a context of social, economic and landscape health," said Preston.