Located in the Southern Utah southwest desert near National Parks and Monuments in a wilderness area close to hiking and outdoor recreation is a movie set that burned down last year.

Western Movie Set Built For Famous Las Vegas Rat Pack Movie Sergeants Three starring Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Crawford.

It has been almost one year since arsonists burned the reconstructed buildings at the Paria Movie Canyon to the ground. The Reconstruction of the Paria Movie Set is being met with great enthusiasm and support from the Managers of the GSENM, the Kane County Office of Tourism and the community.

Help is needed in raising funds:

Contributions can be made to Paria Movie Set Reconstruction Fund at Zions Bank, 41 E. Center Street, Kanab, Utah 84741 or Paria Movie Set Reconstruction Fund, 515 S. 475 E. Kanab, Utah 84741

This website at zionmojave.com is happy to post news from the area. Please use the contact us form below.

More information is available about the fund raising project here.

For rural adventure travel message boards see our website at:

In the area is:

BEARTRAP CANYON

BLACKRIDGE

CANAAN MOUNTAIN

COTTONWOOD

COTTONWOOD FOREST

COUGAR CANYON

DEEP CREEK

GOOSE CREEK

LAVERKIN CREEK

RED BUTTE

RED MOUNTAIN

TAYLOR CREEK

WATCHMAN

Many of these would become new wilderness areas and nature protected reserves.

This is an area where the Mojave Desert intersects with the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin. Red Mountain’s incredible sandstone formations, the Beaver Dam Mountains, Cougar Canyon, Dixie National Forest, Cottonwood Canyon, Joshua Trees and Doc’s Pass provide deer hunting, hiking, climbing, cycling, fishing, horseback riding and ATV opportunities.

Lizards, rattlesnakes, iguana, desert tortoise, deer, cougars, and bear all call this area home. Mostly to the west of Saint George, UT the Zion Mojave Wilderness would create one huge recreational adventure opportunity. With Zion National Park to the east and additional parks and BLM lands within miles. In the northeastern part of Washington County, the proposed Deep Creek and Deep Creek North wilderness areas consist of sheer canyon walls which drop to dramatic year-round rivers. There are hanging gardens with wildflowers with bald eagles and giant California condors. The steep and rugged Hurricane Cliffs form the most outstanding feature of another proposed Blackridge Wilderness. Soaring in elevation by 2,000 feet in under a mile, the area is popular for hikers, hunters and photographers.This website at zionmojave.com and the outdoor recreation message boards would like to invite you to submit, post and share the information that you have about this wonderful area.

Rural Travel Website Focuses on Back Country USA - Seeks New Travel Suppliers

Cedar City, UT, - Social Networking for Wilderness Areas, Parks, Monuments and Outdoors Recreation at AdventureZoneTOURS.
Most travel websites are focused on the large metro areas in the United States. one website has a different twist and has just launched a new feature.
AdventureZoneTOURS partners with small business owners in these over looked rural areas. There are thousands of small business owners located near wilderness areas,
many of them don’t have websites or are sometimes hard to find in a search engine. We add their products and services into our database.
We are unique since in the past two years we have posts about all the National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments and Wilderness Areas in one place, and the new feature
will allow adventure travelers to plan out all their places to stay and fun things to do all in one action! No more clicking and searching all around. All selected travel partners with available inventory in our system get notified of the reservations request.

The Outdoor Recreation Message Board lists the states, separated into travel region message boards where people can see the outdoor public land areas available with map, information, stories, photos and over 4,000 posts. There are park maps, webcams, directions and a search to located accommodations and activity providers in that state region.

Travel partners are invited to become part of the rural reservations booking engine that has just been launched. It’s social networking message boards are geared towards all four seasons.
Accommodations and Activities suppliers need only to visit http://www.adventurezonetours.com and click on the link at the top that says Travel Partners. AdventurezoneTOURS is simply the intemediary to assist the traveler and suppliers in creating an incredible adventure opportunity in rural America. The database is set up for most accommodations suppliers like motels, camps, lodges, campgrounds, etc. The activities database is set up for ATV, horses, hiking, tours, winter, water, rentals and more.

Bob Therrien, President of TrainingPASS Sales, Inc., creator of AdventureZoneTOURS.com, outdoor writer, and constant traveler commented,
“Over the years, the hardest part for me has been the research about which parks, hikes, climbs, guides I want to visit with my family and friends.
Exploring site after site, then mapping the distance from each area of interest is inefficient and many times lacking in information. To solve that inefficiency we (AdventureZoneTOURS.com) have collected all the basic information about our parks, wilderness areas and national monuments into one website. Because of the content rich nature of our website the internet search engines really seem to like us. Now
we’d like to be able to offer the rural small business owners and our internet users an opportunity to make the back country adventure easier.”

Cedar City, UT (May 7, 2007) The good news for adventure travel and wilderness hiking trails is that the USA has protected some of the most unique and incredible places to see on earth. Our National, State Parks, Monuments and Wilderness Areas are awesome, but for years there have been reduced number of visitors. Many citizens have said that a four-year program to increase national parks entrance fees to make them more uniform may discourage some Americans from visiting their national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion and Yellowstone.

The National Parks have been faced with a budget crisis. The parks are struggling to protect the historic, cultural and natural resources that the parks were created for. The parks are short of funds for operating facilities, repairs to roads, bridges, trails and buildings. There was an 814 million dollar shortfall in 2006. There are almost 400 areas of protection covered by the National Parks Service. Almost every park has fewer full time employees now than in 2001, while there were over 273,000,000 visitors to the parks in 2005. The park service needs more funding to provide education, interpretive and for the safety requirements of their visitors. This is a time of controversy about park fees, current plans for oil, gas and mineral exploration in our parks and of course removing the O’Shaughnessy Dam to restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite.

Recently the federal government has moved to replace the National Park Service’s $50 annual pass with a new $80 multi-agency pass. Some people think that the fee increases are getting out of line. The park service raised entrance fees at 34 parks over the past two years and plans to raise them at another 124 parks in 2008 and 2009. At Glacier National Park in Montana and Joshua Tree National Park in California, the fees will go up twice, and beginning in 2011, park officials plan to increase fees every three years, based on inflation. There is a proposal to double entrance fees next year at Crater Lake National Park, now $10 per car. Will it drive the local visitors away? In 1997, when the park service began raising fees, the number of national parks visitors has fallen 1% while entrance fee revenue has gone up almost 16%. Many of them are from outside the United States and love to visit the American protected lands.

Will the National Park Centennial Act to rescue our parks before 2016 – the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service? The acts purpose is to eliminate the annual operating deficit and maintenance backlog in the national parks. If it passed, it was to create a check off box on American tax returns to fund the parks. As H.R. 1124 and S 886 it did not get passed in 2006. In spring of 2006 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report about our National Parks based on research, to the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee that found that funding had not kept pace with need, requiring park managers to reduce services including, “reducing visitor center hours, educational programs, basic custodial duties, and law enforcement operations, such as back-country patrolling. Additionally, the park system has been forced to close campgrounds, shorten operating hours, eliminate many interpretive programs, lay off many seasonal rangers, and eliminate many of the parks’ scientific studies programs.

So where’s the good news? Being an outdoor writer and avid traveler to our parks and wilderness areas Bob Therrien, President of TrainingPASS Sales, Inc. has created an outdoor recreation message board, he commented “The hardest part over the years, for me has been the research about which parks, hikes, climbs, locations and activities I want to visit with my family and friends. Exploring federal then state website after site, then mapping the distance from each area of interest is inefficient and many times lacking in information. To solve that inefficiency we have collected all the basic information about our parks, wilderness areas and national monuments and put them into one website. I don’t personally have a problem with the new park fees. It cost’s me more to take my family to the movies, and I’d rather enjoy a full day or two at a place like Denali National Park.

The USA has incredible adventure travel wilderness and hiking trails. To promote these areas AdventureZoneTOURS created a forum for sharing trip reports on National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments and Wilderness Areas.

The Outdoor Adventure Message Board opens up to reveal a listing of U.S. States, separated into travel regions. Click on any state region and there are sub forums for all the parks, monuments and wilderness areas in that region. Many times there are several interesting choices to pick from within a state region. For the activity-specific minded, AdventureZoneTOURS.com encourages users to share trip reports for a variety of outdoor activities from hiking, climbing, canyoneering, geo exploring, photography, ghost towns, mines, and cave to water sports such as boating, fishing, jet and water skiing, tubing, rafting, and scuba. Winter travel sports such as snowmobiling, skiing and snowboarding are featured. Hunting locations, ATV and horseback trails as well as the most scenic areas for outdoor photography are also available as individual topic posts. To research or share your favorite adventure travel location, and for more information, log on to www.AdventureZoneTOURS.com. We need your help to add interesting posts to the message boards.

Note: This web blog at zionmojave.com invite’s Arizona Strip & Southern Utah groups to forward us their news to share here with our readers as well as our outdoor recreation message board at http://www.adventurezonetours.com/

CONTACT: Cowboy Ted Hallisey

TEL: 435-644-5033

E-MAIL: Cowboyted8(at)aol.com

WEBSITE: http://www.kaneutah.com/

KANAB, Utah—Families and individuals from all fifty states and internationally are invited to attend the First Annual Amazing Earthfest Celebration, happening May 21-26, 2007 in Kanab, Utah. Here travelers will discover, learn from and celebrate national and state parks, national forests and public lands of the Colorado plateau located in Utah and Arizona.

Kanab plans to establish, host and support this broadly inclusive event each year in May, fostering education, scientific discovery and understanding, plus recreation and entertainment. The goal is to attract visitors from across the nation and abroad to Kane County, for the purpose of experiencing the National Parks and Public Lands in the region, recently described by Sunset Magazine as “dramatic.”

Visitors can choose from a wide variety of scheduled activities including: lectures and demonstrations, scientific and educational symposia, Native American and Pioneer cultural programs, guided backcountry trips, expeditions and musical performances. Additional activities include: exhibitions of visual arts, painting, sculpture, handmade crafts, culinary delights and Pioneer history.

Scientific Presentations - Visiting scholars, scientists and staff from major regional educational institutions and the public land managing agencies will be invited to present on geology, ecology, biology, paleontology and archaeology, as well as land and resource management techniques. Programs are planned for a host of visitor centers in the area, as well as guided site visits and expeditions to remote locations in the region. Activities, exhibits, lectures and demonstrations will be designed to educate and inform local residents and visitors about the scientific discovery, study, history and natural wonders of Southern Utah and the Arizona Strip.

Creative Arts & Entertainment - Artists, musicians and storytellers will be on-hand to express their experience of the history, life and culture of the Intermountain West, through exhibitions, concerts and presentations, including competitions for prizes. Pioneer history and culinary arts will round out visitors’ enjoyment.

Outdoor Recreation - Campers, hikers, horseback riders, cyclists, mountain bikers, climbers, road tourists and off-road vehicle enthusiasts are invited to make Southern Utah & Northern Arizona their destination for this springtime event; to engage in a favorite sport, while enjoying the welcoming hospitality of area service providers. OHVs are welcome on designated routes and trails.

Want a special treat? Hit the Arizona Strip and learn about the Condor Release Program.

Tentative Amazing Earthfest Participants ~ 2007

· Best Friends Animal Society – bird display on site in Angel Canyon

· Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park – sunset photo clinic and nature walk

· Glen Canyon National Recreation Area – Lake Powell events

· Grand Canyon National Park – North Rim

· Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – Dinosaur talks and exhibits

· Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts – Maynard Dixon Home

· Pipe Spring National Monument – Native American and Pioneer food and lifestyle recreations & sampling

Also: Bryce Canyon National Park, Capital Reef National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Dixie National Forest, East Zion Tourism Council, Kaibab National Forest, Kanab City, Kane County Office of Tourism, Kodachrome Basin State Park, Mormon Pioneer Heritage Highway, Page-Lake Powell, Snow Canyon State Park, Utah Office of Tourism, and Zion National Park.

For more information on First Annual Amazing Earthfest Celebration please call Cowboy Ted Hallisey-435-644-5033.

Cowboy Ted Hallisey
Executive Director
Kane County Office of Tourism
P.O. Box 209
Kanab, Utah 84741
435-644-5033

Note: This web blog at zionmojave.com invite’s Arizona Strip & Southern Utah groups to forward us their news to share here with our readers as well as our outdoor recreation message board at http://www.adventurezonetours.com/

What’s The US Senate Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006 all about?

There currently is a Zion Mojave Wilderness Proposal being debated. It is called Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006. It is currently being debated in both the US Senate and House of Representatives. The Wilderness Society and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance are playing a lead in helping protect this area. Located in Washington County, UT, near Saint George, this area is predicted to grow by 5 times over in the next 45 years.

Author: Bob Therrien

http://www.adventurezonetours.com

On July 12, 2006, Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) officially introduced his Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006 (S. 3636). The next day, Congressman Jim Matheson (D-UT) introduced companion legislation in the House (H.R. 5769).
These bills could change the face of Washington County, Utah. It could protect lands, but many people also believe it will promote sprawl. Washington County, is located in the southwest corner of Utah bordering Nevada and Arizona. The area covers nearly 2,500 square miles, and has been one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. In the mid 1960s there were only about 10,000 residents; today Washington County has over 100,000 residents. More than 75 percent of the County is Federal land, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the National Park Service (NPS). Also in Washington County include lands held in trust by the Federal government for the Shivwits Indian Tribe and lands owned by the State of Utah. How those lands are managed is a critical issue to the people of Washington County; this bill addresses a wide range of land management policies.

The utility corridors in this bill also plan room for the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline that would direct water into Washington, Kane and Iron counties. The pipeline legislation was signed into law in May of 2006. In order to meet the water demands of an ever-growing population in Southern Utah, these counties are pursuing a pipeline that would run from Lake Powell to Sand Hollow Reservoir. These 158 miles of pipeline would bring 70,000 acre feet of water to Washington County, 10,000 acre feet to Kane County and 20,000 acre feet to Iron County. The pipeline would most likely cost $494 million or more in current dollars.

The Lake Powell Pipeline would allow Utah to tap into its unused portion of the Upper Colorado River water, which was defined in the 1922 Colorado River Compact. The Compact divides the river basin into two areas: the Upper Colorado (comprising Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) and the Lower Basin (comprising Nevada, Arizona and California). Currently Utah is using 74 percent of its annual allocation of 1,369,000 acre feet.

The Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006 bill would designate more than 219,000 acres as wilderness, preserve utility corridors, create an off-road trail system, develop a new conservation area, protect 170 miles of the Virgin River, and sell to the highest bidder up to 25,000 acres of public land at fair market value. As with any change, many people are concerned about the wording of the bill and the future rights for people to use the outdoor lands that they have had access to for years. Saint George has been growing, fast for the past few years and there is a concern about the developers who would buy the land up for bid. Controlling urban sprawl in this area is a concern to many. So much of Southern Utah is an adventure outdoor wilderness area, not many people want to see changes take place that would restrict their access to this ZionMojave Wilderness Area.

This is an area where the Mojave Desert intersects with the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin. Red Mountain’s incredible sandstone formations, the Beaver Dam Mountains, Cougar Canyon, Dixie National Forest, Cottonwood Canyon, Joshua Trees and Doc’s Pass provide deer hunting, hiking, climbing, cycling, fishing, horseback riding and ATV opportunities.

Lizards, rattlesnakes, iguana, desert tortoise, deer, cougars, and bear all call this area home. Mostly to the west of Saint George, UT the Zion Mojave Wilderness would create one huge recreational adventure opportunity. With Zion National Park to the east and additional parks and BLM lands within miles. In the northeastern part of Washington County, the proposed Deep Creek and Deep Creek North wilderness areas consist of sheer canyon walls which drop to dramatic year-round rivers. There are hanging gardens with wildflowers with bald eagles and giant California condors. The steep and rugged Hurricane Cliffs form the most outstanding feature of another proposed Blackridge Wilderness. Soaring in elevation by 2,000 feet in under a mile, the area is popular for hikers, hunters and photographers.

Here are some of the sections of US Senate Bill number S. 3636
TITLE III–WILD AND SCENIC RIVER DESIGNATION

Sec. 301. Zion National Park Wild and Scenic Rivers.

TITLE IV–UTILITY CORRIDORS

Sec. 401. Utility corridors and rights-of way.

TITLE V–HIGH DESERT OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE TRAIL

Sec. 501. High Desert Off-Highway Vehicle Trail.

TITLE VI–RED CLIFFS NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA

(1) BEARTRAP CANYON- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 40 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Beartrap Canyon Wilderness’.

(2) BLACKRIDGE- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 7,145 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Blackridge Wilderness’.

(3) CANAAN MOUNTAIN- Certain Federal land in the County managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 35,344 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Canaan Mountain Wilderness’.

(4) COTTONWOOD- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 11,650 acres, as generally depicted on the Central Map, which shall be known as the `Cottonwood Wilderness’.

(5) COTTONWOOD FOREST- Certain Federal land managed by the Forest Service, comprising approximately 2,642 acres, as generally depicted on the Central Map, which shall be known as the `Cottonwood Forest Wilderness.’

(6) COUGAR CANYON- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 10,568 acres, as generally depicted on the Western Map, which shall be known as the `Cougar Canyon Wilderness.’

(7) DEEP CREEK- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 3,320 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Deep Creek Wilderness’.

(8) DEEP CREEK NORTH- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 4,264 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Deep Creek North Wilderness’.

(9) GOOSE CREEK- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 89 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Goose Creek Wilderness’.

(10) LAVERKIN CREEK- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 445 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `LaVerkin Creek Wilderness’ .

(11) RED BUTTE- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 1,124 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Red Butte Wilderness’.

(12) RED MOUNTAIN- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 18,716 acres, as generally depicted on the Central Map, which shall be known as the `Red Mountain Wilderness’.

(13) TAYLOR CREEK- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 35 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Taylor Creek Wilderness’.

(14) WATCHMAN- Certain Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately 600 acres, as generally depicted on the Eastern Map, which shall be known as the `Watchman Wilderness’.

(15) ZION-

It will be an interesting period of time to see ZionMojave grow and prosper.

Research, read and share trip reports and pics here.

We’d like to invite you to be a guest blogger on this site and to share comments on our Outdoor Recreation Message Boards at http://www.adventurezonetours.com

National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments, and Wilderness Areas, All in One Website!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR NATIONAL PARKS –

On AdventureZoneTOURS.com

Cedar City, UT (February 27, 2007) The good news is that the United States of America has protected some of the most unique and incredible places to see on earth, and to encourage visitors, AdventureZoneTOURS.com brings all the parks, monuments, and wilderness areas into one online message board where people can share information about these fantastic outdoors resources.

The bad news is that the National Parks face a budget crisis. Struggling to protect the historic, cultural and natural resources, the parks are short of funds for operating facilities, repairs to roads, bridges, trails and buildings. In 2006, a $814 million shortfall was reported. With the National Park Service covering almost 400 protected areas, NPS has fewer employees to service the growing number of visitors per year. Over 273,000,000 people visited the National Parks in 2005, with reports of declining visitors. AdventureZoneTOURS.com fills in the gap where information on locations and services are currently lacking. Instead of contacting a variety of parks or wilderness areas to compile your trip, now planning and previewing a vacation or adventure is just a click away on AdventureZoneTOURS.COM.

In a recent trend, volunteering has become very popular with more people willing to offer their time or vacation in assisting the parks and outdoor organizations with clean up, rebuilding trails and other important tasks. AdventureZoneTOURS.com not only features a message board for each region of every state but under the category Special Interests members are invited to post messages for volunteer opportunities or find links to the volunteer opportunity just right for them.

Bob Therrien, President of TrainingPASS Sales, Inc., creator of AdventureZoneTOURS.com, outdoor writer, and constant traveler commented, “Over the years, the hardest part for me has been the research about which parks, hikes, climbs, guides I want to visit with my family and friends. Exploring site after site, then mapping the distance from each area of interest is inefficient and many times lacking in information. To solve that inefficiency we (AdventureZoneTOURS.com) have collected all the basic information about our parks, wilderness areas and national monuments into one website. We’re still working on the mapping solution right now, so that a visitor can visually see just a region of a state and distances between multiple areas of interest. AdventureZoneTOURS.com is an outdoors recreation message board that now needs real trip reports from people who love these parks and are willing to share information on their special places.”

The Outdoor Adventure Message Board opens up to reveal historic park photos and a listing of U.S. States separated into travel regions. Click on search to find your park or any state region and there are sub forums for all the parks, monuments and wilderness areas in that region. You’ll find links to park maps, webcams and several interesting choices to pick from within a state region. Choose just the park to visit or check special interest message boards for posts on volunteer opportunities and travel for women only, men, training retreats, or shuttle posts.

For the activity-specific minded, AdventureZoneTOURS.com encourages users to share trip reports for a variety of outdoor activities from hiking, climbing, canyoneering, geo exploring, photography, ghost towns, mines, and cave to water sports such as boating, fishing, jet and water skiing, tubing, rafting, and scuba. Winter travel sports locations for snowmobiling, skiing and snowboarding are featured. Hunting locations, ATV and horseback trails as well as the most scenic areas for outdoor photography are also available as individual topic posts. To research or share your favorite adventure travel location, and for more information, log on to www.AdventureZoneTOURS.com.