Millsite Reservoir spills: public lands discuss issues

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The Emery County Public Lands Council met in their June meeting. For the July meeting they will have a field trip to Ferron Canyon. Rod Player, vice-chairman conducted the meeting. He said on a recent trip to Lake Powell no one said anything to boats going in and coming off the lake about decontamination of boats. Lake Powell is rising about six inches each day. Some of the boats stored at Lake Powell throughout the winter did have quagga mussels on them.
Sherrel Ward gave the water report. He said Millsite Reservoir is spilling as is Miller’s Flat, Cleveland and Rolfson which are all full. Electric Lake is at 67 percent capacity. Total precipitation is at 75 percent of average. Recent rains have saved irrigation water for later use, but overall it’s snowpack that helps the drought the most. Joe’s Valley is at 81 percent. Huntington North is at 81 percent and it fluctuates as water comes out for irrigators. “It’s turning out to be an OK water year. The rain has really helped out the desert area,” reported Ward.
Commissioner Paul Cowley reported he attended the SITLA tour on the San Rafael Swell. “It was very educational to SITLA board members to view the SITLA lands in our area,” said Cowley.
There wasn’t much to report on Rep. Rob Bishop’s public lands initiative. Randy Johnson, public lands consultant said the bill needs to be in the hopper before the August break, if not by then, it may not get through this Congress. The county has been involved in some type of public lands legislation since 1995. The process is not new, but this is a different approach to join forces with surrounding counties and submit regional legislation.
Don Crandall from the BLM reported there will be a wild burro gather on Sinbad in the fall, they will gather around 300 animals and put back about 30. The BLM is working with the forest service to put in a real cattle guard above the upper debris basin in Huntington Canyon. Ward requested the BLM/forest service ask for input from the permittees on the location of the gate. The painted on cattle guard isn’t working. The volunteer activity went well with the Utah State students.
The project to expand the parking lot at Joe’s Valley and to lengthen the boat ramp is in the funding stage. Ward requested they work with Jay Mark Humphrey from the Emery Water Conservancy District on this project.
Ray Petersen, public lands director, said the SITLA tour and reception went well. The main topic for the meeting was the changes in the grazing permit language.
Darren Olsen from the forest service said a lot of work is going on in the forest. The summer crews are at work on weeds and trails. The gate at Willow Lake is still closed due to drifts of snow, but will open soon. The division of wildlife resources wants to get into Duck Fork, so the road may be plowed soon. There is still snow on South Skyline. Millers Flat road is open and Trough Springs. Some have opened earlier than usual, but not Ferron Canyon.
State Parks reported Goblin Valley had a busy Memorial Day weekend. The mountain bike trail there will have a grand opening on June 9. There is a disc golf course set up at the Green River Golf Course. Millsite and Huntington State Parks are busy and a new attraction there is the addition of kids kayak rentals and a slack line.
Hannah Lockhart from Sen. Mike Lee’s office reported they went on the SITLA tour to look at possible parcels to trade out of the lands included in the public lands initiative. They are working hard to move the bill which will allow grazing to continue on the Grand Staircase National Monument. There have been several energy bills under consideration. They are working on legislation which will allow a state by state basis for management of endangered species, because each state is different with different management issues and different numbers of protected species, the Utah prairie dog as well as several other species would fall into this category. The Patriot Act is being discussed in the Congress/Senate. Revisions to this bill are being discussed. Petersen said anything Sen. Lee can do to bring sense to the endangered species act will be appreciated. A bill stating the economic impacts of a listing be considered is still in the works.
Kelsey Berg from Rep. Jason Chaffetz office said the release of the final EIS on the sage grouse was disappointing. They need to give the state’s plans for sage grouse time to work. The release of the EPA clean water rule was not good news. For the past six years there has not been an inspector to keep an eye on the department of the interior; Cong. Chaffetz is working with other Congressman to ask Pres. Obama to appoint someone to help with oversight of this department. There is also an issue with employment rules and the bringing of people in on Visas to be herders but then they leave and find other jobs.
Mark H. Williams said the county’s new app is ready where the motorized and non-motorized trails can be downloaded and you’ll have the map on your phone with a locator that will give your exact location on the road so you can track where you are in the county.
Petersen said the county has been asked to write an opinion piece to get out to the public along with Uintah County and the Pew trust to off-set negative publicity on the public land issues.
Under citizen concerns, John Anderson said his mine openings on the Swell have been closed. He had told DOGM before that was OK as long as he had keys to the gates installed so he could take ore samples from the shaft. Currently the ore isn’t worth mining, but may be in the future. Petersen said all claims without an active mining plan were closed. Anderson said he pays his fees every year on these claims.
Another citizen expressed his concern with the possible listing of the sage grouse and how towns in Nevada don’t exist any more because the people have been shut off the land, he’s concerned that may happen here in this area.
The council will keep a close eye on the sage grouse issues. Efforts are in the works to slow or stop development on federal lands, even if the areas are not considered priority habitat for sage grouse. The focus areas are part of the new approach. Concerns are this continued over-management could hamper current and future projects that would actually benefit the sage grouse and their habitat.