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Serving Wayne & Garfield Counties, Utah
LOA • FREmONT • LYmAN • BICkNELL • TEASDALE • TORREY • GROvER • FRUITA • CAINEvILLE • HANkSvILLE PANGUITCH • PANGUITCH LAkE • HATCH • ANTImONY • BRYCE • TROPIC • HENRIEvILLE • CANNONvILLE • ESCALANTE • BOULDER
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Dixie National Forest Invites Public Comment on Hut-to-Hut Project ESCALANTE - The Dixie National Forest is inviting the public to participate in a comment period ending May 10 on a Bike Hut Project on the Powell and Escalante Ranger Districts to allow Escape Adventures Inc. to install four non-permanent overnight huts on the forest. “The proposed hut locations are within the administrative boundary of the Dixie National Forest’s, Powell and Escalante Ranger Districts,” said Terence J. DeLay, Escalante District Ranger. “One hut would be installed on the Powell Ranger District while the additional three huts would be installed on the Escalante Ranger District.” The huts are part of a proposed five hut system, one of which is on private ground and would allow Escape Adventures Inc. to continue their guided bicycling tours. As part of this process, Public Comment Cont'd on page 3
Issue # 1305
Archaeology Day at Frontier Homestead State Park
Courtesy Frontier hoMestead state park
Learning to throw an atlatl, an early hunting tool. CEDAR CITY - Frontier Homestead State Park welcomes archaeologists young and old to participate in its’ annual Archaeology Day event on Saturday, May 4th from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. Visitors will participate in activities that highlight traditional Native American and pioneer crafts and skills, such as throwing an atlatl, making rope and cordage, flint knapping, and much more. There
Brent Schmidt Named New Administrator of Intermountain Sevier Valley Hospital
leaving to fulfill church service in New Hampshire. For the past five years, Schmidt has served as director of ancillary and support services at Sevier Valley Hospital where he had responsibility for 11 departments and services, as well as overseeing a major construction project in the Women’s Center and Emergency Department. Courtesy sevier valley hospital “Brent was selected Brent Schmidt will begin his new from a strong field of canrole as the new administrator of didates. He is a talented Sevier Valley Hospital in Richfield leader who has the conon June 2. fidence of our team, the RICHFIELD - Brent Sevier Valley Hospital Board Schmidt has been selected of Trustees, and the caregivas the new administrator of ers at Sevier Valley. He has a Intermountain Sevier Valley Hospital in Richfield. Schmidt New Administrator succeeds Gary Beck, who is Cont'd on page 5
will also be ongoing demonstrations and native fry bread. Archaeology Month Art Contest winners will be recognized at 10:30 am. Paiute storytelling will be featured from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, and Paiute dancers will perform from 12:00 to 1:00 pm. Cost is $2.00 per person or $5.00 per family. Archeology Day is the kick-off event for a series of activities sponsored by Fron-
Wayne and Garfield County Dems to Hold Conventions May 18
WAYNE / GARFIELD COUNTIES - The Democratic Party in both Garfield and Wayne counties will be holding their annual organizing conventions on Saturday, May 18. Garfield County’s convention starts at 2 p.m., in the Escalante High School music room (same location as last year). County and precinct party officers will be elected, and the 15 delegate positions will be elected to attend the state convention on Saturday, June 22, in Park City. At 3:30
by Bonnie Mangold encouraging results from the building assessment done by Steven Cornell, historical architect with the Utah Division of State History. It’s his opinion that the Amusement Hall is well constructed, with very few cracks or settling in the stone walls. The cedar shingle roofing, though showing signs of wear and tear, does not appear to have leaked. There is some deterioration of the mor-
REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST FOR SOME BUT NOT ALL REGIONS REPRESENTED IN OUR NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AREA
THURS. MAY 2 - WED. MAY 8
Spring showers remain possible this week, especially next Wednesday. Chances start this Saturday at 10%, increasing to 40% by Wednesday. Otherwise, mostly sunny. Highs will be in the mid to high 60s; lows in the 30s.
tier Homestead State Park, Southern Utah UniversityCollege of Humanities and Social Sciences, Utah Project Archaeology, the Cedar CityBrian Head Tourism Bureau, The Park Place, The Pizza Cart, Farmers Insurance-Jesse Robinson, Intersearch, Transcon Environmental, the Bureau of Land Management, Archaeology Cont'd on page 2
GARFIELD COUNTY The Garfield County Commissioners held their regular meeting and two combined public hearings on Apr 22. First, Commissioners’ reports: Commissioner David Tebbs attended a Bryce Canyon Partners meeting and discussed the trail closures. Visitation at Bryce has been down about 10 percent for the year. He believes there is a verbal commitment from the Park to “make a better stab at keeping trails open.” He also reported on upcoming road repairs in the Park starting this fall. Later this summer, he said, various chip seal projects in the park campgrounds will result in about half capacity for a time, creating more opportunities for local RV and campground businesses. Tebbs pushed again for parking to be addressed at Mossy Cave and Hwy 12 where the “near misses” continue to occur between traffic and tourists. The issue is understandable, he said, as that was the only way to access the Park during the trail closures. He’s looking for a more substantial remedy than UDOT warning signs. Fi-
nally, Tebbs reported the Park hired 12 locals for their Youth Conservation Corps jobs. Those plus four sanitation jobs, starting at about $16/ hr, are showing good followthrough with the Park’s Local Hiring Authority giving special status to local residents. Commissioner Jerry Taylor attended Utah Association of Counties for networking and training. He also attended planning meetings for the congressional staff briefing that will occur here later this summer. Participants will spend some time in the Panguitch Lake area, and at Ruby’s and Bryce. • The Escalante Science Center will be an actual science center and not just another dinosaur museum. It’ll include a field station and be based around education and science. They’re meeting with Denver museum people on May 9, working on partnerships and using the Center to bring in universities, high schools, grade schools. • More housing in Garfield GCC
Cont'd on page 10
Birding 101
Part 2: It's Spring!!!
Conventions Cont'd on page 7
Teasdale Amusement Hall to Hold Open House on May 6 TEASDALE - “Then we will just have to dance.” This was the response of one longtime Teasdale resident on hearing that there may not be many chairs available in time for the Teasdale Amusement Hall open house. Yes, it is indeed May 6th, and yes that is a Monday—from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Most likely there won’t be dancing—this time. We have preliminary and
Garfield County Commission April 22
tar, most noticeable around the foundation where a cement pad was added, which causes water to pool, eating away at the mortar instead of draining into the earth. The basement shows some signs of water seepage, but there are no major water issues. All in all, a good report. Memory is a fallible thing, so there is no consensus as to when the dropped ceiling was installed below the Amusement Hall Cont'd on page 2
Jens Munthe
A raspberry red Cassin's Finch. ESCALANTE - Spring is an exciting time of year for birders. There are interesting migrants passing through, resident birds are being joined by family members wintering elsewhere, and representatives of at least a dozen bird families not usually present in winter are arriving to nest. Before discussing some of these, however, let’s mop up some winter birds. At the end of my last column I assigned 2 homework problems. Those of you who checked in either completed your assignments correctly or made good progress. Congratulations! The first problem was to identify the small
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. —Anonymous
(5”, tip to tip) birds in the article’s photos. All 3 birds have the short, stout bills of seed eaters, which likely makes them sparrows or finches. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but as the bird in photo #1 is feeding on the ground, there’s a good chance it’s a sparrow. It is, in fact, a Junco, a variable species of sparrow. Most sparrows are brown and/or grey, decorated with streaks or stripes. Our winter Juncos have none of those, but come in various confusing combinations of black, grey, white and rust. The bird in the photo is grey but shares with other Juncos a distinctive combina-
tion of field marks: a grey or black head, a light/pinkish bill, and a long tail with white outer feathers. Even if the birds are flying away from you, which they usually are, those flashing white feathers scream “Junco”! The birds in photo #2 are finches (sparrows don’t navigate feeders well), and some of the differences between them are immediately obvious. The bird on the left is brown with lots of streaks and is a Pine Siskin. Siskins have varying amounts of yellow in their tails and wings (this one has
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Feathers
Cont'd on page 6 PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122