Comment sought on Shivwits Plateau

The Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service need help determining how to manage vegetation on the Shivwits Plateau of the Grand Canyon.

The two agencies are assessing the environmental condition of approximately 400,000 acres of the Arizona plateau. Within three years, they hope to have a plan for dealing with fire, fuel and vegetation issues.

The BLM and the Park Service are looking for input in the following areas:

How to perpetuate native-plant communities and slow or reverse natural-resource deterioration.

When to rely on natural process, such as lightning-ignited fires, to manage vegetation and when to intervene.

How frequently and what types of vegetation treatments should be used.

What are the cultural, economic, environment or social implications of managing vegetation?

Project administrators are accepting online comments at parkplanning.nps.gov/para, by e-mail to Shivwits_Vegetation_EA@blm.gov or in writing to Parashant National Monument; Attn: Patrick Fleming; 345 E. Riverside Drive; St. George, UT 84790.

— Elizabeth Stuart