Mt. Graham Takes First Steps Forward
Despite protests in which two environmentalists chained themselves to a road grader last month, the construction of the largest telescope in the world is back on track (See The Scientist, November 28,1988, page 5). A management plan hammered out by the University of Arizona, the U.S. Forest Service and the Fish & Wildlife Service allows initial work on the Mt. Graham International Observatory in southeastern Arizona. The plan’s first order of business: a 30-day survey of the mountain, now in process, to determine an access route to the Emerald Peak research site that won’t threaten the endangered Mt. Graham red squirrel. The plan’s other features include permanently limiting visitors to the access road or the telescope sites, a ban on private vehicles, and the salvaging of trees at the construction sites. The schedule calls for the opening of the observatory’s submillimeter radio telescope and...
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