Those were some of the topics discussed Thursday in this southwest Utah town during a meeting of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument advisory committee.

The 15-member group, which makes nonbinding policy recommendations to monument Manager David Hunsaker, plowed through several issues this week that affect the 1.9 million-acre Bureau of Land Management-administered monument in Kane and Garfield counties.

The monument group received help from the BLM's state Resource Advisory Committee. Its report on use of off-highway vehicles on BLM land away from the monument peaked the local group's interest.

"In 1997, there were 40,000 registered OHVs in Utah," said state committee Chairman Gordon Topham. "In 2003, there were 160,000 of them registered."

Local members said they appreciated the state group's presence on Wednesday and Thursday.

"We can take what they have done and tweak it to fit within the monument's parameters," said Scott Truman, who also heads the Utah Development Council in Cedar City.

After the joint meeting, the monument committee met separately.

Hunsaker told the group that new, coordinated signage will go up at monument entrances, along roads and at visitor centers. Committee members also heard about the progress of animal re-introduction or augmentation projects, including for desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, and plans to introduce otters from the Green River in eastern Utah to the Escalante River, which cuts across the monument.

It also was proposed that a history of the monument be written by a professional historian under committee guidance.

And Hunsaker said the visitor center in Escalante is scheduled for dedication on June 11. Once open, it will join similar visitor centers in Cannonville, Kanab and Big Water.

mhavnes@sltrib.com