|
Luxury developers have taken an interest in the small desert town of Kanab, Utah, according to reporting by the Land Desk. Located on the Arizona-Utah state line, southeast of Zion National Park, Kanab has around 5,000 residents.
A slew of luxury housing developments and resorts are set for construction in and around Kanab in the coming years and months, including Catori Canyon, “a premium housing development & luxury gated community;” Ventana Resort, an “ambitious project that includes townhomes, affordable housing, nightly rentals, single-family homes, and even a hotel” built on former state trust land a huge subdivision called Willow Reserve Estates, which incorporated as its own municipality against the will of Kane county; and Kaia, a “new ultra-luxury RURAL EB-5 investment opportunity” that will allow foreigners to obtain permanent U.S. residency in exchange for purchasing one of Kaia's million-dollar homes.
Kanab currently supplies its 5,000 residents with several groundwater wells and springs. These developers plan to rely on groundwater as well, indirectly removing water from the overtaxed Colorado River system, since groundwater and surface water are connected.
National park staffing crisis
A new report by the National Parks Conservation Association and its partners finds that park service staffing is down 24 percent since January. NPS has lost 4,000 staff due to terminations, pressured buyouts, deferred resignations, and early retirement buyouts. An ongoing hiring freeze, just extended to October, has severely limited the agency’s ability to fill vacant positions, including more than 100 open superintendent positions. Meanwhile, parks are already experiencing record-breaking visitation this summer, and the Supreme Court just gave Interior Secretary Doug Burgum permission to move ahead with mass firings across the agency.
|
The Trump administration is pushing fast forward on the extinction crisis... If we get rid of the science that shows (environmental) problems, we won’t have to think about it, but that won’t make them go away.”
