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Show 122 Playing Politics as a Last Resort While designation of a Canyonlands National Park would require an act of Congress, national monument status could be conferred by presidential proclamation. Park opponents worried that Udall would urge President Kennedy to bypass Congress and create a monument with national park or wilderness-like management. Udall assured them that his goal was a park, not a monument, and that he would bypass Congress "only as a last resort."359 However, Udall worried that while the park bill slowly worked its way through Congress, mining companies would scar the Bureau of Land Management-administered terrain, rendering it unfit for park status. He issued a directive that the land be managed in a way that it would be fit to become a national park. This "interim management plan," according to Udall, would primarily prevent indiscriminate bulldozing by mining companies conducting seismic tests and prevent the destruction of Indian ruins.3 60 The area affected by the directive included the one million acres from Udall's original proposal. While drafting the interim plan, Udall and the SLM had played with multiple options - from strict restrictions on mining and grazing to no change at all in management. An official in the BLM office leaked a copy of a draft memo to Senator Bennett that called for strict restrictions. Bennett, believing it was the final draft, berated Udall and accused him of implementing a "secret plan" that would "strangle the m Jensen, "Udall Ends Tour;· Salt lake Tribune, July 8, 1961. J6G Frank Hewlett. "l'3rk Embroils Bennett, Udall," Salt Lake Tribune, September 27, 1961 , 15. |
