rand Canyon Wildlands Council is pleased to announce that we will once again receive a grant from the Grand Canyon Conservation Fund. Many thanks to outfitters and passengers for the much-needed support. We are even more excited to relate that President Clinton has created the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. This new million-acre monument, almost as large as Grand Canyon National Park, covers over half of the Shivwits Plateau (the southwestern and western portions), and the entire Grand Wash drainage in Arizona. To the east it includes the Mt. Trumbull/Mt. Logan area and Toroweap Valley. The headwaters of some of our favorite side canyons‹Parashant, Andrus, Whitmore, Secret‹will now be recognized for their ecological, historical, and scenic features. As part of the Wildlands Council ecological assessment of the ecoregion surrounding the Grand Canyon, we prepared a detailed report on the Shivwits Plateau region. You can request a copy of ³An Ecological Assessment of the Shivwits Plateau Region² from Grand Canyon Wildlands Council (we have a few left) or download it off the web at http://home. earthlink.net/~gcwildland/. Here is a brief summary: The Shivwits Plateau is a vast tableland and its western edge forms a dramatic escarpment, one of the nation¹s most remarkable ecotones (ecological transition zones). Most of the Shivwits Plateau lies at elevations of 6,000­7,000 feet, with a capping veneer of basalt flows and volcanic peaks that rise above 8,000 feet. These lands encompass remarkably long cliff lines, the boundary between the Basin and Range and Colorado Plateau geologic provinces, extensive archeological features, pinyon-juniper and ponderosa pine forests, desert spring ecosystems, and desert tortoise, California condor, desert bighorn sheep, and pronghorn habitat. We had great fun working as part of a coalition of groups, encouraging President Clinton to designate. We heartily thank The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust, Southwest Forest Alliance, National Parks and Conservation Association, National Resources Defense Council, and the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association and Grand Canyon River Guides. We especially thank all of you who responded to our emails and called the White House. It helped. President Clinton sat before a small brown table at Tuweep on January 11, 2000 and signed the proclamation designating this and two other monuments, at the same time expanding a fourth, all in Arizona and California. Now this is the right way to kick off a millennium.

Kelly Burke