Challenges and Opportunities (Back to Landscapes Program Index)

	Toroweap overlook, Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument © GCT

With approximately half of the BLM's 2.8 million acres on the Arizona Strip now in the National Landscape Conservation System, the higher standards that the monuments impose on resource management sets the framework for management on the Strip. The monument plans are one of the greatest points of leverage. They set the standard for management in the monuments. The plans will also provide the standards by which all subsequent activities within the monuments will be evaluated and reviewed. The Grand Canyon Trust's input into the structure, design, and content of these plans now will facilitate the implementation of our conservation strategy in the future.

Restoration: The proclamations recognize that habitat and ecosystem restoration are an essential component of protecting healthy functioning ecosystems. Restoring vegetation types such as grasslands, ponderosa forests, springs, and riparian areas must be done in concert with restoration of natural ecological processes such as fire. The Trust is advocating for monument management plans that identify and analyze impacted areas for restoration potential, outline specific steps that the agencies will take to restore degraded lands (including the development of a restoration plan for each monument), implementation priorities, and strong budgetary commitments to restoration. It is imperative that native species be utilized in all restoration programs within the monuments. We urge the BLM and NPS to support and encourage the development of local native seed producers and sources.

Transportation and Access Management: The Grand Canyon-Parashant and Vermilion Cliffs proclamations clearly and unequivocally state that, "all motorized and mechanized vehicle use off road will be prohibited..." We believe that no exceptions other than for emergency or authorized administrative use should be allowed. In addition, the BLM should designate a single transportation system for all motorized and mechanized vehicles. To preserve solitude and the "remote and unspoiled qualities that are essential to the protection of the scientific and historic resources" the transportation system should be minimized to include only the roads necessary to provide reasonable access. Extraneous routes, routes with the potential to impact vegetation, wildlife and other natural resources directly or through excessive fragmentation of habitat, archaeological resources, and other monument objects should be closed and obliterated/restored where necessary. The EIS analysis should consider road obliteration as an effective way to restore soil and hydrological function, secure terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitat, decrease habitat fragmentation, dramatically reduce noxious weed invasions, and restore native ecosystems.

In September 2004, The Grand Canyon Trust along with The Wilderness Society and the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council released a report entitled “Protecting Northern Arizona’s National Monuments: The Challenge of Transportation Management”. This report describes the findings of a spatial analysis comparing the potential effects of two different transportation systems on five wildlife species that reside on the Arizona Strip. Using accepted scientific methodology and an extensive review of scientific literature, our analysis indicates that a route network similar to that currently inventoried by the Arizona Strip Field Office could lead to substantial negative effects on all five species of wildlife. Click here to view the full report.

Grazing: The proclamations establish the responsibility of the BLM and Lake Mead to put top priority on management of biological and ecological resources and to emphasize ecosystem restoration. At the same time the proclamations allow for continued grazing, stating that, "laws, regulations, and policies…in issuing and administering grazing permits or leases…shall continue to apply" within the monuments. Livestock grazing is an allowable use under existing laws; however, it is not recognized in the proclamations as an object to be protected.

The EIS should consider the continued impacts of livestock grazing on ecosystem health, including the spread of noxious weeds, native biodiversity, composition and vigor of native vegetation, soil erosion and compaction, altered fire regimes, watershed health, springs and riparian vegetation, wildlife habitat, and non-game species, (including predator populations). In order to meet the intent of the monument proclamations, the EIS should evaluate alternatives that reduce and/or eliminate livestock grazing in ecologically sensitive areas such as riparian areas, areas of unstable or fragile soils, etc. Such alternatives should include support for voluntary retirement of livestock grazing. In addition, as a potential management tool for meeting the grazing challenge in the monuments, the BLM should evaluate the viability and potential for establishing "grassbanks" with clear, measurable environmental goals.

Protecting Remoteness: The proclamations recognize remoteness as one of the key attributes of the monuments that should be protected. The Arizona Strip Field office has also recognized the remote character of the Strip as a unique characteristic to be preserved. Protecting remoteness will be one of the greatest challenges of monument management as people hear about and visit the new Monuments. It is essential that monument planning anticipate increases in visitation. As such, the Trust asks that the management plan approach recreation management proactively with such tools as group size limits, allocations, and use zones. These are easier and more effective tools for controlling the impact of visitor use, rather than letting damage occur and then trying to mitigate after the fact. This approach will also help the BLM avoid the difficult circumstance of having to decrease recreational opportunities in the future to not exceed carrying capacities.

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