WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton on Thursday created a new national monument to protect a spectacular line of red-hued cliffs in northern Arizona and dramatically expanded an Idaho monument featuring an eerie, volcanic landscape.

The 293,000-acre Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, near the Colorado River north of the Grand Canyon, is the 10th monument Clinton has created this year and the fourth in Arizona, over the objections of the state's governor and other Republican officials.

Clinton also ordered 661,000 acres of federal land added to the 54,440-acre Craters of the Moon National Monument in central Idaho - expanding the monument by more than 12-fold.

Clinton used his power under the 1906 Antiquities Act to add protection to areas already owned by the federal government. Creating a monument allows the president to ban logging and mining, restrict off-road vehicle use and grazing, and bring added prominence to the areas.

Western Republicans have complained bitterly about nearly all of the 10 Western monuments Clinton has created. Critics say Clinton misused his authority, locking away federal land from commercial ventures that would have brought jobs and money to poor and remote areas.

Clinton had not notified Arizona Gov. Jane Hull of the plans to create the monument by Thursday evening, said Hull aide Scott Celley. While Celley said Clinton's earlier monument designations in Arizona were ``unilateral and poorly communicated,'' the Vermillion Cliffs decision was no surprise because Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had recommended it in August.

Environmentalists, on the other hand, have cheered Clinton's monuments and urged him to create more.

``I do think that the outcome of the election will affect future monuments,'' said Pam Eaton of the Wilderness Society.

Top on environmentalists' monument wish list is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska. Presidential hopeful George W. Bush and many other Republicans say oil companies should be allowed to drill in the refuge, while environmentalists and Vice President Al Gore say the area should be off-limits to drilling.

Clinton has not said whether he plans to make the refuge a national monument, which would block oil drilling there.

Bush also has criticized Clinton's monument designations but acknowledged overturning them would be difficult. Congress may change monuments' status as it did most recently with many of the monuments President Jimmy Carter declared in Alaska.

Last week Tyler Montague and Lance Buchi, two 18 year olds who were severely burned in August after falling into a hot pool in Yellowstone National Park, walked for the first time. The two young men, with burns over 95 percent of their bodies, initially were given only a small chance of living. However, following numerous skin grafts and many hours of physical therapy, the two are slowly learning to walk again.

Their recovery has been miraculous, by many accounts. They are now expected to be discharged from the hospital between Thanksgiving and Christmas, although they yet face years of more skin grafts and therapy.

DUBOIS, Wyo. (AP) - Ranger Bob Jackson has been catching poachers for 21 years, but he's at a loss to combat the latest threat to Yellowstone National Park's wildlife.

Jackson says hunters and guides just outside the park's southern boundary, and therefore outside his jurisdiction, are illegally salting the ground to lure trophy elk out of the park so the animals can be hunted.

Hunters have used a number of salting methods over the decades to attract elk, including placing blocks of salt in the forest or pouring rock salt on the ground. Elk lick the salted earth, creating pits up to 20 feet in diameter and several feet deep.

In 1990, the Forest Service outlawed salting in federal wilderness areas. But the 586,000-acre Teton Wilderness, which abuts Yellowstone's southern boundary, is a prime hunting area where hunters pay outfitters several thousand dollars each for the chance to bag a trophy bull elk. Outfitting, the business of taking hunters into the outback, thrives in remote areas of the West, including the Teton Wilderness.

No one has ever been caught salting in the area just outside Yellowstone, but Jackson said he has seen two pits created over the past year. About 25 salt pits of varying sizes dot the park's roughly 18-mile southern boundary, according to Eric Sandeno, manager of the Teton Wilderness.

Some outfitters and game wardens have said that Jackson is exaggerating the problem. But he said the discovery of new pits affirms his belief that the lucrative business of outfitting will keep salt baiting alive until forest managers act.

The Forest Service, which has jurisdiction, is considering cleansing the pits, although packing out the salted earth could be difficult. The area, miles from the nearest road, is accessible only by foot and horseback.

Outfitting is big business near Yellowstone. About 3,000 hunters frequent the wilderness every year near the park's southern border, according to the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish. On the Internet, some outfitters near Yellowstone boast that 90 percent of their hunters bag elk.

While federal law bans salting in wilderness areas, there is no law in Wyoming against it. At least 16 other states have banned salt baiting.

Harold Turner, owner of Triangle X outfitters, said he used to salt the ground along the park's southern boundary before it was illegal. Thirty years ago when there were not many elk in the region, the salting ``made a big difference,'' he said.

Mark Marschall, a Yellowstone ranger, said catching salters is not easy. Only the act of dumping salt is illegal; it is not illegal to hunt at the salt pits.

``Someone could go out over the course of the summer and fall to dump salt, and unless someone is there witnessing that, it's pretty hard to catch,'' he said.

While salt baiting disturbs Jackson for ethical reasons, he also worries about the threat to grizzly bears that feed on elk carcasses.

Hunters often leave elk meat behind because it is too difficult to pack out of the remote area. That attracts bears and raises the risk that the threatened species may be shot by hunters, mostly acting in self-defense when a bear charges them.

Recently three grizzly bears were shot in the Teton Wilderness. Authorities are investigating.

Some have said salting can help cull a growing elk population. But Game Warden Tim Fagan said salting has had little effect on elk numbers.

``Our elk numbers have done nothing but increase in the past 10 years,'' he said. ``There's minimal numbers of elk ever killed over salt. And salting has never affected the population. Never even close.''

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed one of the nation's largest habitat conservation plans Wednesday in an attempt to protect threatened species while allowing development in the fast-growing Las Vegas Valley.

``This is the most advanced, complete habitat conservation plan in the West,'' said Babbitt, who toured part of the 197,000-acre Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area before signing off on the plan.

Babbitt says the plan guarantees open space around Las Vegas to protect the ``extraordinary landscape'' of coral-colored rock formations less than 20 miles from the neon-lit strip of the fastest growing metropolitan area in the nation over the past decade.

``The are few places in the West that you can drive 10 to 15 minutes from a city and be out in the wilderness,'' Babbitt said.

Officials said the plan, also approved by the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and county officials, allows developers to co-exist with the environment.

Under the new 30-year plan, the county can destroy plant and animal habitats but, in return, it must relocate the endangered species and assure their protection and survival.

The plan covers 79 species, including the silver-haired bat, the Red Rock Canyon aster plant and the Southwestern willow flycatcher bird and could eventually include more than 200 species.

It is an expanded version of an earlier plan in which desert tortoises were removed from lands targeted for development and then re-settled in protected habitats.

A 10-year battle over the tortoises pitted conservationists against developers and nearly halted development in much of the Southwest's desert areas.

"Green Energy Parks" Initiative Provides $1.6 Million for 70 New Clean Energy Projects The Department of the Interior's National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $1.6 million in funding for 70 new clean energy projects at national parks across the country under the Green Energy Parks program. A joint NPS and DOE initiative, Green Energy Parks provides energy efficient and renewable energy technologies and alternative fuels for the National Park System.

The announcement was made at Anacostia Park in Southeast D.C., which will receive funding to install solar powered lighting for its Urban Tree House, an outdoor environmental education center.

"Parks are an ideal way to showcase clean energy technologies," said T. J. Glauthier, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy. "Thousands of visitors to Anacostia Park and millions of visitors to other national parks implementing clean energy programs will have an opportunity to see and experience the environmental benefits first hand."

David J. Hayes, Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior added, "This joint effort demonstrates the high level of federal government commitment to energy and water conservation, and the national parks are an ideal venue for showcasing these clean energy technologies."

The departments will provide funding and technical assistance for this year's 70 projects that include energy efficient lighting, ground-source heat pumps, solar water heating and photovoltaic-produced power.

Recently, the DOE and the NPS were honored with the President's Award for Federal Energy Management Success for their outreach partnership efforts demonstrated by the Green Energy Parks program. The program was recognized for its innovative renewable and energy efficient technologies in national parks.

In 1999, NPS and DOE invested more than $1.5 million in 60 projects that provided clean energy and alternative fuels in 20 national parks. Educational displays that accompanied these energy projects explain to visitors how smart energy management saves energy and money while reducing pollution at home, at work, and in transportation choices.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Three miles described as the largest unprotected segment of the Appalachian Trail would be preserved under an agreement between the National Park Service and a ski resort owner.

The agreement announced Wednesday keeps Saddleback Mountain's entire southeast side undeveloped and creates a buffer zone of at least 100 feet between the trail and the ski area.

Owners of the Saddleback ski area, near the western Maine town of Rangeley, will receive $4 million for about 1,500 acres and a scenic easement protecting another 320 acres. Most of the money was included in an appropriations bill signed by President Clinton this week.

``There are certainly some significant conservation achievements here,'' said Dave Startzell, executive director of the Appalachian Trail Conference, which coordinates trail management.

The trail segment, which crosses the peak of the 4,115-foot Saddleback Mountain, is described as the largest of 200 unprotected parcels along the 2,167-mile path from Mount Katahdin to Georgia's Springer Mountain.

The agreement, which was signed Tuesday night, depends on additional action by Congress, said John Berry, an assistant secretary of the Interior Department in Washington.

It follows more than decade of on-again, off-again discussions. At issue was how to keep ski lifts and other equipment from interfering with the views enjoyed by hikers along the nation's most famous footpath.

The trail passes through thick forest and then gnarled spruce trees as it ascends 2,500 feet above the tree line to the rocky summit. Hikers can follow a ridge for nearly two miles with continuous views in all directions.

Under the agreement, the Massachusetts owner of the Saddleback ski area will sell the undeveloped back side of the mountain, ending a concern that skiers would have to cross the trail itself to reach the new terrain.

Compared to September 1999, Yellowstone posted a 20.5 percent decline in recreational visits during September. The park recorded 353,728 visits last month, and 445,057 in September 1999.

Last week the National Park Service opened Canyon View Information Plaza, a new state of the art transportation/orientation hub. The Grand Canyon Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating knowledge, discovery, and stewardship for the benefit of Grand Canyon National Park and its visitors, also opened a new bookstore on the plaza.

The opening of this facility represents the first major step in implementing the park's 1995 General Management Plan, a plan that focused on public transportation and Enhanced educational and recreational opportunities.

Canyon View Information Plaza was designed to fulfill four functions: provide visitors with their first glimpse of the canyon - away from noise and vehicle congestion; introduce visitors to the park's major interpretive themes - enriching the visitors

experience; offer visitors a menu of recreational options that include orientation to riding shuttle buses, biking, hiking, and ranger guided activities; and connect visitors to other points in the park with the completion of a mass transit system in early 2004, that will include alternative fuel buses and light rail.

The Grand Canyon Greenway, a multi-use trail system will eventually extend from Canyon View Information Plaza to the future Grand Canyon Transit Center north of Tusayan, and to Desert View and Hermits Rest.

The facility is the result of many people and organizations sharing a vision and working together to reach this milestone. It is the first of its kind and scope in a national park - designed to accommodate up to 4,200 people per hour at peak times, the facility will eventually serve as a hub for four modes of transportation; bus, train, biking and hiking. It is also the first major project completed at Grand Canyon with funds from the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program, a pilot program approved by Congress in 1996 that allows the national parks and other federal agencies to keep up to 80% of most user fees collected.

The opening of Canyon View Information Plaza is one of the first steps in many to come. Because the facility will open prior to the completion of the mass transit system several changes in traffic patterns will occur to accommodate the visiting public and local community.

The National Park Service has already begun to install temporary traffic devices and directional signing that will direct visitors to parking areas within the park. Visitors will be asked to park their vehicle, board a shuttle bus, and visit Canyon View Information Plaza to begin their connection to the Grand Canyon. Once the light rail system is completed, day use visitors will park their cars outside of the park at the Grand Canyon Transit Center and board a light rail train for the short trip to Canyon View Information Plaza.

Beginning with the opening of the Canyon View Information Plaza, the park's shuttle system is now a year round service. The Village Route, connecting Canyon View to the South Rim Village, now operates from an hour before sunrise to 9:00, 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., depending on the season. The Hermits Rest Route to overlooks on the west rim now operates from an hour before sunrise to an hour after sunset from March through November. The Kaibab Trail Route now operates during the same hours throughout the year. Hermit Road (formally West Rim Drive) and the South Kaibab and Yaki Point Road is now open from December through February.

Although there will be many changes over the next several years, the National Park Service is excited over the transition to a new and better way to visit. "We are beginning a new era," stated Acting Park Superintendent, J.T. Reynolds, "we are responding to change in an innovative way that provides greater protection to park resources and a better experience for park visitors. We are transforming the visitor experience at Grand Canyon from one of congestion and limited opportunities to one of greater opportunity!"

Lucas' planned $250 million Digital Arts Center for San Francisco's Presidio is apparently not up to snuff when it comes to federal regulations, the Park Service says.

"The overall size, scale, materials, detailing and siting of the proposed development are incompatible with the Presidio National Historic Landmark District," Park Service regional head John Reynolds wrote in a draft copy of a letter to the Presidio Trust, the federal nonprofit that governs the two-century-old former military post.

Lucas' proposal, which includes a circle of faux Greek columns, a man-made stream and water walls, is allegedly riddled with problems. Among them: no public areas, apart from a coffee bar and restaurant; a design that excludes people ("rather than achieving the stated goal of welcoming the public, the buildings and site design work together to create a walled compound," the Park Service says); and an aesthetically unpleasing look (the center "turns its back" on the rest of the Presidio with a windowless wall of buildings facing a street).

Three major historic preservation organizations have formed an alliance with the Park Service, with one complaining that the 900,000-square-foot center has "the appearance of a private, suburban office enclave, not an integral component of a public urban national park."

The Presidio Trust says it will take all the criticisms into account and make some modifications, trust executive director Jim Meadows told the San Francisco Chronicle. But, he said, "I don't think you'll see a whole new set of plans. We won't be starting from scratch."

Lucasfilm will pay $5 million a year in rent for the 23-acre movie-making center, the first major project in the Presidio since it was put in civilian hands six years ago.

"To be in this place is a real privilege," Holly Harrison Fiala, director of the Western Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, told the Chronicle. "This is not just another real estate deal. I would think that an organization with the stature of Lucas would want something more in harmony with the landscape. They can do better."

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) today filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) claiming that the agency is violating the Clean Air Act at two of the utility's coal-fired power plants closest to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Knoxville, alleges that TVA has violated the legal limit for opacity, a measurement of the density of pollutants discharged from a smoke stack, at its 1,400-megawatt Kingston and 712-megawatt John Sevier steam plants. The Kingston facility burns approximately 3.8 million tons of coal yearly, and the John Sevier plant consumes more than 2 million tons.

``People like to think of the Smokies as a pristine natural environment,'' said Tom Kiernan, NPCA president. ``In fact, it's among the most polluted national parks in America. TVA is a federal agency and a major source of that air pollution, and we want the agency to do much, much more to protect the park.''

Researchers in the national park have documented air-pollution damage to 30 different plant species and impacts on another 60 species. Vistas from the high peaks that once stretched for 93 miles now average only 15 miles in the summer tourist season. Coal-fired power plants, such as those operated by TVA, are the largest stationary sources of the harmful, haze-producing pollutants affecting the southern Appalachian region.

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring TVA to comply with established air-pollution emission limits and to pay civil penalties to the federal government for opacity violations for the past five years.

``We've had a crisis in slow motion going on in these mountains for years,'' said Don Barger, NPCA's southeast regional director. ``Unfortunately, action to clean up the major sources of air pollution has been even slower, and we can no longer afford the risk of delay.''