In September 1996, President Clinton surprised the nation by designating a new 1.7 million-acre Grand Staircase -- Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. For the first time ever, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was given responsibility for managing a national monument. The BLM, charged with preserving the new monument's scientific and historic resources while integrating existing multiple-use activities through a three-year public planning process, faces a daunting task.

This book provides the first comprehensive review of the new monument's natural and human attributes, the...