What does Kane County want in a redrawn Grand Staircase-Escalante monument?

When Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced he would visit Kanab last spring, Kane County officials knew they had a rare opportunity to influence the changes he might suggest for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The 1996 designation of the 1.9-million-acre monument still angers many of their friends and neighbors. While the County Commission didn’t have a formal proposal, local officials wanted something in writing to offer Zinke, according to County Attorney Robert Van Dyke. So Kane County staff pulled together a map indicating roughly 200,000 acres that county officials believe are worthy of monument status — a heart-shaped patch framed by Paria and Cottonwood washes, and the canyon country north of the Escalante River near Boulder. Although the county presented the map to Zinke on May 10 at a closed-door meeting, officials have refused to release it, arguing it’s an incomplete draft that could mislead the public. But The Salt Lake Tribune has obtained a version of the map from state public lands officials under a second open-records request. The map offers a glimpse into how Zinke may have arrived at his recommendations, which remain shrouded in secrecy, to the frustration of local businesses and pro-monument groups...more