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Throughout the Mission 66 era, there were several different proposals for developing the Fruita area. These maps, drawings, and mylar overlays indicate up to eight campground loops covering all of the Gifford and Mulford properties, a visitor center on the site of the Capitol Reef Lodge, and various road realignments. These drawings, dated 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1964, along with the complete 1966 master plan, are excellent sources for researching Mission 66 Developments at Capitol Reef -- the most dramatic changes ever made within the monument or park.
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This narrative re-emphasizes the policy statements first found in the Mission 66 Prospectus. The arguments for turning the old highway into a dead-end scenic drive and the need to purchase the private inholdings at Fruita are presented in greater detail. Other immediate and potential problems are also listed in this brief, five page narrative.
Prepared by William T. Krueger, Superintendent, Capitol Reef Document found in:
This document helps place Capitol Reef developments and current and projected problems at a time when a majority of Mission 66 projects had been completed. The highway along the Fremont River was two years old; the visitor center, campground, and water treatment plant were nearly finished; and all but 14.83 acres (the Bird lodge and Gifford properties) had been purchased. There are excellent details concerning current accessibility to the area, population trends of the neighboring communities, and interesting descriptions of nearby features. The 1964 master plan describes the monument's negligible fire history, soils, dominant vegetation, common wildlife, and stream descriptions. It also provides visitor use comparisons between 1958 and 1963, showing dramatic increase due to the new, paved highway through the monument. Visitation in 1975 was estimated to be close to 400,000. Yet, it was projected that only half of those would ever turn off the highway and take a closer look at the monument. This document is useful in demonstrating management concerns as Mission 66 at the monument is winding down. The various routes of accessibility to the area and surrounding features are historically important but there is little here of significance to current or future park management policies.
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The 1964 design analysis chapter of the master plan, is a five-page outline of existing conditions; final Mission 66 construction plans for the visitor center, maintenance area and Capitol Gorge information and exhibit shelter; and various management concerns. Of note is the acknowledgment that the orchards must be maintained in order to retain water rights acquired as part of the purchase of the various inholdings. The management program narrative is in Chapter 3 of a September 1965 master plan prepared by Superintendent William T. Krueger (but never approved by the regional director). This document is an extensive, 37-page examination of current conditions and perceived needs for better management of the monument's resources. Discussed are the needs to:
Overall, this document describes Capitol Reef's status toward the end of Mission 66 construction. Management was still adjusting to rapid changes caused by the purchase of inholdings, the construction of the Fremont River canyon highway and the increase in visitation over the previous five years.
Prepared by The Environmental Associates: Architects Planners Landscape Architects, Salt Lake City, Utah Document found in:
Submitted two years after Capitol Reef became a national park, this contracted master plan stressed transportation and other improvements needed to provide access and better management of park lands, now 600 percent larger than the old national monument. While the specific objections to this document are unknown, it was considered inadequate and was not approved by the National Park Service. [9] The 38-page master plan narrative, which contains many planning maps, is accompanied by a lengthy transportation study required by the park's enabling legislation. [10] The descriptions of natural and cultural resources are brief and contain no new or in-depth information. The 1973 Capitol Reef Master Plan emphasized "basic concepts to provide preservation and restoration of the natural ecological interrelationships and for a development scheme compatible with this theme as well as to serve the inspirational and recreational needs of a growing society." [11] The master plan proposes some interesting ideas, some of which have been instituted and some which have not. One proposal was to have two distinct districts in addition to the Fruita headquarters area. For the Fruita area, recommendations include:
North District recommendations are to:
South District recommendations are to:
General Management Objectives are to:
Resource Management recommendations are to:
While this master plan was not approved by park managers and regional officials, there are some thought-provoking ideas in this first comprehensive document after park creation that should be examined by present and future managers at Capitol Reef.
Prepared by Rocky Mountain Region, Capitol Reef and Denver Service Center Document found in Administrative History Notes and Files. This task directive outlines the need for a general management plan for Capitol Reef since the last significantly outdated master plan in 1967. This document is important because it identifies specific management problems and lists the status of relevant documents. Unbelievably, there was no park-wide management plan eight years after Capitol Reef National Park was created. This task directive lists the numerous management problems faced by an overwhelmed park staff with little long-term guidance. These problems included:
One reason mentioned for the lack of a master plan was the realization that the park's resources were largely unknown. Once a preliminary, "only partly successful" inventory was completed in 1975, funds were programmed but not given priority status until FY 81. This task directive also lists the scope of work, time tables, preliminary funding estimates, and staff responsibilities for that general management plan and associated environmental impact statement, statement of findings, and supplemental wilderness proposal to be completed by 1983.
Project Coordinator - Allen R. Hagood, Denver Service Center Superintendent - Derek O. Hambly Document found in:
This is the final, director-approved draft that became the primary planning document for Capitol Reef National Park from 1982 through the late 1990s. After two years of analysis, scoping, public input, and writing, National Park Service officials determined to balance limited compromise of park resources with some upgrades in visitor facilities and accessibility. The preferred alternative will be the only section addressed in this study, since it is impossible to cover all the material in this document. However, the thorough information the study contains on existing developments, current and future management problems, various development alternatives, and the public response to them, are a valuable resource and should be given adequate attention by all current and incoming park managers. Not all the preferred alternatives, which together formed Capitol Reef National Park's management plan, are listed here. Instead, only those items relevant in the 1990s will be mentioned. Please see the GMP's Table 1, pages 31-36 and Appendix B: Plan Rationale and Methods, pages B-1 through B-7 for more complete information. Also see the various development maps for each area listed below found on pages 39-50. Headquarters District recommendations call for:
Pleasant Creek recommendations call for:
South District recommendations call for:
The 1982 Capitol Reef General Management Plan specified that Burr Trail and Notom Road were not to be improved by the National Park Service. If state or county agencies proposed improvements, the National Park Service was to have a significant role the in design and regulation of these roads. There were also to be no developments in Halls Creek. North Coleman Canyon was selected as a preferred utility corridor, rather than the Oak Creek Corridor proposed in the rejected 1973 master plan. [13] North District recommendations are to:
Also included in the 1982 Final Environmental Impact Statement/General Management Plan are:
Boundary adjustments were also proposed. The plan recommended that Blue Flats and mostly state-owned sections near Sandy Ranch and in the Circle Cliffs be excluded from the park. In exchange, the National Park Service desired tracts in the upper Sulphur Creek area and a small section including Glass Mountain. These boundary adjustments would also result in a natural boundary with the Circle Cliffs. These adjustments were countered by proposals from the Bureau of Land Management and Wayne and Garfield County officials. Since those counter proposals called for transferring a much larger amount of park land over to the BLM, they were totally unacceptable to National Park Service officials. In the end, the 1982 boundary proposal was dropped altogether. [14] As regional officials and Capitol Reef management continue the process toward a new general management plan in 1996, this 1982 document should prove valuable. There is no question that this document is now outdated. Yet, it did provide a useful, and desperately needed planning focus for Capitol Reef National Park.
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These documents give excellent details on current management concerns, planning document status, natural and cultural resource research and threats, land use trends, visitor use analysis, and cooperative agreements and special-use permits. They have proven extremely helpful in the compilation of Capitol Reef's administrative history. They are a source of information for anyone researching past resource issues or changing management concerns over the past 20 years.
Prepared by Rocky Mountain Regional Office and Capitol Reef staff, Christopher C. Marvel, Team Captain Recommended by Superintendent Charles V. Lundy Document found in:
This is the proposal to draft a new general management plan/environmental impact statement, two development concept plans, and an interpretive prospectus, all to be completed by 1996. Included in this document are the time tables, issue identifications, applicable data, and funding and staffing requirements for this ambitious project that "will provide the National Park Service with direction for long-range management, development, and use of Capitol Reef National Park." [15] This task directive provides the latest information on current resources, water rights, rights-of-way, and other administrative and resource concerns. Until the 1998 general management plan is completed, this will likely be the most up-to-date document concerning park issues.
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According to the requirements of the 1964 Wilderness Act, all areas of the national park system with more than 5,000 contiguous roadless acres were to be evaluated for wilderness designation. The first draft wilderness proposal for Capitol Reef National Monument was submitted for public review in September 1967 (Box 2, Folder 7 - Capitol Reef Archives); public hearings were held in Loa, Utah on December 12, 1967 (Box 2, Folder 3-4); and written comments were also accepted at that time (Box 2, Folder 8-11). A formal wilderness recommendation was not submitted to Congress until April 1971. Of course, by this time President Lyndon Johnson had already expanded Capitol Reef National Monument, and enabling legislation for a national park was well on its way toward passage. This made any wilderness recommendations for the old monument obsolete. The initial proposal called for five units within the old monument boundaries. The Fremont, Grand Wash, Capitol Gorge, and Pleasant Creek canyons and a 1/8-mile buffer zone surrounding the entire monument formed the basic boundaries of the wilderness units. The December hearing transcript and the hundreds of letters responding to these recommendations demonstrate how Capitol Reef managers were placed in the difficult position between local resident desires for little to no wilderness and environmentalist's pressures for more wilderness. The most contentious discussions concerned the 1/8 mile buffer that National Park Service officials believed "the minimum essential for present and future management needs" [16] and the exclusion of the bisecting canyons. These canyons were omitted from the wilderness plans since they contained roads, were used as stock driveways, or both. The environmentalists believed that these driveways and grazing uses were not incompatible with wilderness. They also believed that the buffer zone, proposed in other contemporary National Park Service wilderness plans, was an unnecessary limit. At the December hearings, and through later correspondence, local ranchers were promised that the stock driveways would be guaranteed. The 1/8-mile buffer was never specifically addressed in that later correspondence. These documents pertaining to the 1967 Wilderness Proposal are, of course, outdated by the expansion of the monument in 1969 and the creation of the national park in 1971. Yet, the testimony and written statements, as well as the various detailed maps of the proposal, give an excellent idea of the local, conservationists, and National Park Service concepts of wilderness in the late 1960s.
Prepared by Denver Service Center, Allen R. Hagood, project coordinator. Document found in:
This is a detailed, well-written account of Capitol Reef National Park's numerous resource issues that would have an impact on any proposed wilderness. The wilderness plan, examined more thoroughly in the September 1973 "Wilderness Study, Capitol Reef National Park," breaks the park down into nine proposed units covering 181,230 acres (or 75 percent) of Capitol Reef. In this document, the nine units are only summarily discussed. Most of this draft environmental statement is concerned with a thorough analysis of existing developments, the natural environment, the region's economy, and past, present, and future land use concerns. The resource descriptions and supplemental maps provide an excellent source for general information about resource conflicts that park managers have faced since the national park was established in 1971. Notably, this draft environmental impact statement was withdrawn in 1983, when preliminary proposals to increase the wilderness to 91 percent of park lands were introduced. The 1998 general management plan is to address the need for another formal wilderness proposal.
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This is the last formal wilderness proposal submitted to Congress for Capitol Reef National Park. The document includes the formal recommendation for wilderness, the December 1973 Draft Wilderness Study, public hearing and written response analysis, the views of other government agencies, and a map of Capitol Reef's wilderness. [17] This wilderness proposal was submitted to Congress with other area parks in March 1978. No other record has been found that could determine why the wilderness recommendation was never brought to a vote. In 1984, the wilderness recommendation was revised upward to include almost 90 percent of the park. Yet, the Department of the Interior did not submit this plan to Congress. In lieu of formal congressional approval, the entire area proposed for wilderness status in 1984 is, as of 1994, treated as wilderness in all park management decisions. The analysis of public hearings and written responses contains a summary table of the 300 responses and a general description of views by conservationists, local interest groups, and other agencies. There are several letters included in this section that will give park managers a good idea of the various national and local viewpoints toward wilderness management at Capitol Reef National Park. Perhaps the most important response was from Utah Governor Calvin L. Rampton's office, which opposed any official wilderness designation for the Utah parks until the completion of a comprehensive master plan that addressed local considerations. [18] As the last extensive wilderness recommendation, this document is important in understanding what areas are considered of wilderness quality, and varied reactions to proposed wilderness in the park. The document is, of course, somewhat dated, and consequently, many of the resource conflicts have been altered in some way. Thus, while useful, this document should be used to supplement the 1982 Capitol Reef General Management Plan and the statements for management throughout the rest of the 1980s.
Recommended by Superintendent Robert W. Reynolds Approved by Acting Regional Director Jack W. Neckels Document found in Capitol Reef Superintendent's Files. [19] As the first land protection plan for Capitol Reef National Park, this is an interesting document pertaining to the contemporary landownership status for the park and alternatives for acquiring non-federal lands within Capitol Reef. Included in the 1984 Land Protection Plan is a summary list of current ownership which included 19,000 acres of state sections, the .42-acre tract in Fruita owned by the descendants of Amasa Pierce, funding status, and acquisition priorities. There is also a map showing the location of non-federal land tracts and a table of acquisitions to date. The potential conflicts over the state sections and a brief description of the Pierce-owned tract in Fruita are found in the document, as are the various alternatives for acquiring these lands. The final recommendation was to leave tract 01-161, the private .42-acre plot, alone for the time being, but to consider eventual "friendly condemnation." State lands were to be exchanged through the Project Bold program, which was never enacted. A second alternative was to exchange the state lands for federal lands in other areas of Utah through the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976. Mineral leases were to be left alone, since their monetary value was uncertain. Grazing was also to be only monitored for the time being. Although somewhat dated, this document contains some useful information on landownership during the 1980s.
http://www.nps.gov/care/adhi/adhi18a.htm Last Updated: 10-Dec-2002 |