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Agreement helps preserve Utah rock art
Associated Press Writer
Photo by Al Hartmann/AP
Ancient Native American rock art next to a road at Nine Mile Canyon in Utah are being affected by the increased traffic from the service vehicles supporting the natural-gas and oil claims within the canyon.
The pact is scheduled to be signed Jan. 5 by federal and state agencies, conservation and archaeology groups, tribal leaders and a Denver-based natural-gas producer.
It calls for road work to cut down on abrasive dust that can erode the rock-art panels of Nine Mile Canyon.
The canyon - actually 78 miles long - has been called the world's longest art gallery, with thousands of prehistoric drawings.
Bill Barrett Corp. is awaiting federal environmental approval to add 800 gas wells on high plateaus that are accessible only from Nine Mile Canyon.
The company said it was happy to end years of dispute with an agreement that brought an unprecedented level of scrutiny to its project.
“We were able to come to some agreement on practices necessary to protect the archaeological resources in the canyon. It's a step to developing the gas reserves, and we look forward to working on solutions to protect wildlife and the area's wilderness character," Duane Zavadil, the company's vice president for government affairs, said Wednesday.
The agreement brings two practical changes to Nine Mile Canyon, which will see ramped up truck traffic as the gas wells are developed.
Bill Barrett is likely to apply processed oil sands to harden the road and more permanently cut down on dust.
That step could prove more economical and effective than the alternative, repeated applications of a pine-based tar, Zavadil said.
The pact also compels the Bureau of Land Management to monitor and protect the entire canyon, from rim to rim, which spans miles.
Legally, the Bureau of Land Management was required to protect lands only within a 200-foot road corridor, and it resisted taking on a wider responsibility for energy development, according to preservation groups.
The BLM's Utah director, Selma Sierra, praised the agreement in a news release late Tuesday as a product of unusual collaboration that “helps us effectively meet the challenge of managing public lands for multiple uses."
The other principals to the pact are the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, the Utah State Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office and Carbon and Duchesne counties. Also weighing in were the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, the Utah Rock Art Research Association, the Utah Professional Archaeological Council and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
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