Public Lands council reports water good for now

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The December public lands meeting was held and the good news was the snow totals to date. Lands Council member Sherrel Ward reported the snow total is 82 percent of normal for the drainage. Clear Creek is at 60 percent, Mammoth/Cottonwood at 86 percent; Red Pine-104 percent and Buckflat-Dills Camp 119 percent. “Last year at this time the percentage was at 60 percent. November helped to bring it up. I’m really happy with the reservoir capacity, right now Cleveland is at 70 percent, 94 percent for Huntington North; 57 percent for Miller’s Flat; 66 percent for Joe’s Valley; 62 percent for Electric Lake. We have a lot of carry over, but we need more snow,” said Ward.
Council chairman Ed Geary said there are terms expiring for council members. Chuck Semborski has said he will not submit an application for renewal. Mistie Christiansen and Jon Gilbert both have expiring terms. Geary said he is cautiously optimistic with the changes coming in Congress from the recent elections. He hopes Congress will be able to get things done.
Commissioner James Nelson expressed his appreciation for the lands council and their volunteer work. He has been overwhelmed by the service of volunteers in the county during his time as commissioner.
The board set the meetings for 2015 on the first Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m.
Marc Stilson gave the report from the Utah Division of Water Rights. He said legislation which deals with how change applications are handled will be introduced in the legislature. A recent case with the supreme court told the state engineer they didn’t have the authority to reject a change application. But, if you would be harmed by a change being granted you could file a lawsuit. The problem lies with people who haven’t used their water rights for years that suddenly want to begin use again or transfer use. The case stemmed from a farm at BYU that hadn’t been farmed for 30 years. The state engineer wants to offer some protection for people who have kept their water rights in use throughout the years. If an old water right can be put to use without harming others, then there needs to be a way for that to happen too. Any and all cases can still be handled through the courts. The Division of Water Rights is looking for a balance so everyone’s rights are taken into consideration.
Ward wondered if the Rep. Kay McIff water bill is coming back again. It sounds like it will be reintroduced again in January. Stilson said the bill mainly deals with creating a pathway for a shareholder to move their water outside the drainage. McIff claims his bill would force irrigation companies to take action on change applications instead of letting them stagnate without action.
Randy Johnson, lobbyist for the county wondered how the lands council would like him to approach McIff’s bill. Commissioner Ethan Migliori stated the water users he has talked to don’t like the bill.
Council member Mistie Christiansen said there is also legislation that does the opposite of McIff’s bill and works to keep the water in the drainage. She will provide Randy Johnson with a copy of that legislation. She said this issue can work both ways, even though the county doesn’t want to see its water leave the county, down in Green River there are farmers who could benefit from out of area diversions coming into the county and also the nuclear power plant has leased water shares from San Juan and Kane counties.
The lands council decided to discuss the issue more thoroughly in the January 2015 meeting.
Justin Hart from the Division of Wildlife Resources said an exotic animal not a big horn sheep was spotted in Elmo. It appeared to be an escaped pet from somewhere. The quagga mussels have been detected below Glen Canyon dam and are moving down river. During the summer, the DWR people were at Lake Powell washing boats and educating boaters on the spread of quagga mussels. This winter they are working on formulating a containment plan for Lake Powell. If more funding is appropriated they will work on washing boats as they are leaving the lake too. The DWR is having a big horn sheep watch on Dec. 6. On Dec. 13 there is a shoot at the shooting range in Blanding and on Dec. 20 is National Christmas Bird Count and it will be observed in Moab, and anyone wishing to count birds is invited to attend. The DWR is doing a big horn sheep count now and will do elk counts when the snow covers the ground.
Darren Olsen, forest ranger for Ferron introduced Mark Pentecost the new forest supervisor working out of the Price office. He came here from Minnesota. Pentecost said the forest service has a long history of working with communities and he is looking forward to working with the officials in Emery County.
Olsen reported the Greens Hollow EIS draft is nearing completion and its been a long process. The firewood gathering expired on Nov. 30 and will resume on June 1, 2015. The forest service is now selling Christmas trees. They are still working on the permitting for a trail around Desbee Dove Mine which would connect two trails and could be used for cattle and ATV. This project will be on the list for next fall and winter. “There’s a lot of interest in that trail,” said Olsen.
Applications for seasonal jobs are being taken now on the usajobs site. The process is a bit confusing said Olsen so if anyone needs help applying they can contact his office.
Ray Petersen asked if it would be possible since the county has had fires, and there are areas with excess wood, if access to those areas could be made easier. Olsen said access is limited to 150 feet off the road, but possibly areas could be considered on a case by case basis. There’s a lot of dead wood that needs to be gotten rid of but access must be managed.
Ward asked for an update on the range amendment. Olsen said they have been getting input and are trying to decide where to go from here, they don’t know if the process will continue on all three forests. They aren’t into NEPA yet, they are forming groups and gathering information. (This process regards grazing on forest service lands)
Jonathan Hunt from the state parks said they pulled the dock ramps at the state parks. Scofield is frozen over with approximately 6 inches of ice. The ice fishing tournament will be on Dec. 27 at Scofield and you can register online there will be many prizes given out that day.
Aaron Farmer from Green River state park and Goblin Valley said they just finished their fall season and visitation is up in all three parks Green River, Goblin Valley and the golf course. There will be a geocache at the golf course and you will be able to pick up your patch at Goblin Valley after you’ve visited the five geocaches in the county. This is being worked on by the travel bureau and the Utah Office of Tourism. Plans are underway for foot golf and disc golf at the Green River golf course as well and large hole options. This winter there will be renovations to the Green River golf course club house. The archaeological clearance has been approved for a mountain bike trail, more permits are needed, but work should begin in the spring for the trail at Goblin Valley. Improvements are being made at Green River State Park and they will be getting a new dump station at the park.
The park is also going to work on new interpretive panels. Christiansen asked if these panels could include information about cattle grazing. The Goblin Valley expansion is up in the air for now. After the first of the year, they’ll wait and see where Rep. Rob Bishop’s bill goes.
Hannah Lockhart from Senator Lee’s office said the senate is in session and they are looking for ways to keep the government running. Another shutdown isn’t anticipated. It’s expected not much will be accomplished in the lame duck session and many bills will be introduced and debated next year. Lockhart said if any bills affect Emery County directly she will let the lands council know.
Ward wondered if Sen. Lee would support the healthy forests bill. Lockhart said she will talk to him about it. The majority leader determines which bills come to the floor of the Senate for debate. They don’t think that one made it to debate.
Kelsey Berg from Rep. Jason Chaffetz office said the Utah delegation is in good position in Congress. Rep. Bishop is the chair of the natural resources committee and Rep. Chaffetz for the oversight and government regulation committee. Gov. Gary Herbert is the president of the association of Governors; Ralph Becker is the president of the coalition of cities. She said Utah has a chance to show what its doing and how in Utah they make things work.
On the oversight committee Rep. Chaffetz will have the chance to address EPA regulations on carbon and will hopefully rein in regulations said Berg.
Geary asked if the other counties are moving along with their public land use plans. She said San Juan County’s comment period just ended and they will vote on their proposal soon. Carbon County is still working on their plan. Uintah County held an open house. Summit County is in discussion with grazers.
Ward asked Berg to thank Rep. Chaffetz for the nice letters he sent out to the cross country team. Berg said Rep. Chaffetz likes to recognize people doing good things in the community. If anyone needs recognition, then let Rep. Chaffetz know about it.
Matt Gochis from the Bureau of Land Management said they worked on a project with the Sage Riders motorcycle club on the Five Miles of Hell single track. They helped Dean King with a cattle guard. The BLM has been working with the forest service and will do a public comment period for Joe’s Valley. (bouldering project)
There will be meetings on the travel and transportation plan for the San Rafael desert (south of I-70) The meeting in Green River will be on Jan. 21 and in Castle Dale on Jan. 22 from 4-8 p.m.
Ward asked Gochis if the BLM is aware of the wild horse problem on the Red Canyon allotment. “You should go look at that area it’s been grazed to the ground,” said Ward. The allotment holder there has had to move his cows elsewhere because the feed there is gone and it’s only the beginning of the winter grazing season.
Gochis said he will let their wild horse and burro specialist, Mike Tweddell know about this problem area.
Brad Peterson from the governor’s office of recreation told of his responsibilities. He splits his time by thirds and spends time on outdoor industries, promoting outdoor recreational opportunities to diversify economies in rural Utah and dealing with public lands issues in Emery, Grand and San Juan counties. He’s excited about progress being made in these areas and especially the public lands initiative Rep. Bishop is undertaking. If this succeeds it will encompass one third of the state’s public land areas.
Peterson said he is putting together a meeting with the advisory committee from the Dominguez and Escalante National Conservation area. They will be in Green River later this month to discuss what they’ve learned from the NCA in their area. In January the outdoor retailers show will visit Utah. They are contracted through 2016. Housing for participants can be an issue. It’s a big boom for the Utah economy having the show here.
Rod Player, lands committee member reported the trails map they have been working on should go to print soon.
Ward wondered if a portion of boat registration fees could go towards fighting the quagga mussel problem. Hart said this has been done in other states. Commissioner Nelson said he attended a DNR meeting and they spoke positively about maybe increasing boat fees to help with the mussel problems. Hart said any boater registration fee increases need to be approved by the legislature.
Hunt said the fee to put a boat on the water at Huntington State Park is $6. (Note: boater registration fees are paid yearly as the boat is registered, fees at the time of a boat launch are collected at the individual state park and these fees vary)
The next public lands council meeting will be on Jan. 6, 2015.