Big Horn Sheep numbers on the rise

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

Rod Player, vice-chairman welcomed everyone to the December public lands meeting. He encouraged everyone to look at the summarized comments from the Envision Utah survey.
Some concerns of Utahns for the future included increased local food production, protection of water and water sheds, promote self-sufficiency, foster job growth and economic development. There are 11 topics covered in detail on the Envision Utah website.
There is one open position on the public lands council. The meetings for 2016 will be held the first Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. Elections for positions will be held in the January meeting
DWR representative Brandon Behling reported the flights for the big horn sheep count are complete and sheep counts have increased by 20 percent on the south and 30 percent on the north.
Rusty Robinson has been hired as the new big horn sheep coordinator for the division. He is the one who completed a large amount of research on the sheep to determine why their numbers were in a decline. If anyone finds radio collars off the sheep please bring them into the DWR office. The collars didn’t perform as they should have and dead batteries in them made it so they couldn’t be collected after they fell off the animal. Most of the remaining collars to be found are on the north unit.
Randy Johnson, public lands consultant said the language for the public lands bill initiative from Rep. Rob Bishop’s office has undergone some changes. He estimates the first draft will come out for the public to view in January. They are being careful to make sure the language is what they want before it’s released as it’s hard to scale back or increase it. “The first draft language needs to be where we want it to be,” said Johnson.
The public lands council will hold a work meeting on Dec. 15.
Kelsey Berg from Rep. Jason Chaffetz office said the coal caucus has been created and so far there are 67 members. There are 207 congressional districts with coal in them so Berg said hopefully more will join and a better voice for coal can be presented. It’s officially called the Congressional Coal Caucus.
Wild Horse and Burros: Congressman Chaffetz signed onto a bicameral letter to BLM Director Kornze regarding the agency’s plans to manage significantly overstocked HMAs across the West. This letter asks the BLM to provide several specific management alternatives to reduce on-range and holding-pen populations using currently available resources, during various time periods. In each of the 10 states where the BLM manages wild horses and burros, the population exceeds the maximum appropriate management level. Currently, more than 100,000 animals reside on the range and in holding facilities as a result of rapidly increasing populations, declining adoption rates, and inefficient management policies.
The last scheduled oil and gas lease sale for the BLM didn’t take place. It will be rescheduled.
Cong. Chaffetz office has also requested the rule on coal ash regulations not be enforced.
The upward trend of having PILT funded is continuing.
They are trying to block the enforcement of the ozone rules by the EPA until it goes back to Congress for approval.
Cong. Chaffetz is providing disapproval under the Congressional Review Act) of the EPA’s final 111(b) rule of the Clean Air Act for new, modified, and reconstructed power plants. This Act allows Congress to review and disapprove of major rules issued by federal agencies, resulting in the rules having no force and effect. This rule sets standards for new coal plants based on carbon capture and storage technologies that have not been proven to be commercially viable. While EPA asserts CCS for new power plants is “adequately demonstrated,” there are no operating coal plants in the United States that have installed CCS and could meet the standard. This rule goes far beyond the statutory authority of the agency under section 111(b) of the Clean Air Act, effectively imposing a de facto ban on new coal plants in the United States, and prohibiting the construction of even the most state of the art coal-fired electric generating units that are currently being built in Europe, Japan and other countries. There is significant legal controversy surrounding the rule, and there are at least 23 States whose Attorneys General or state agencies are challenging the final rule.
In the BLM updates, Jacob Palma said sage grouse meetings were held and lightly attended. The public comment period ended for 16 new drill pads at Horse Bench. They will be directional pads.
The paperwork for the dredging of Millsite is complete and on the register. That project will move forward to dredge and place the material collected in the draw.
A wild horse and burro gather will take place in early March on the Swell.
A pinyon/juniper project will take place on Cottonwood Ridge to create more habitat for sage grouse.
Scoping will take place in April for the master lease plan for the San Rafael desert area. This has given the BLM the opportunity to look at the resources that are there and analysis them.
Work is being done on the plan for the SERMA for the Goblin Valley Expansion. This project will move forward even if the public lands initiative doesn’t go anywhere.
Behling from the Division of Wildlife Resources said they are done for the year on the boat inspections and decontaminations at Lake Powell.
The traps were checked and the tiger muskies are not escaping from Joe’s Valley. Ice is starting to form and Behling urged anglers to use common sense as ice is very thin in the mountains.
A guns and gals event was held in Green River to introduce more women and girls to the shooting sports. They will hold a class in Castle Dale next year.
Law enforcement for the DWR is out and on patrol watching for any illegal activity involving wildlife.
The DWR office participated in no shave November and donated proceeds to Sub for Santa.
The habitat project on Cedar Mountain is wrapping up. The wildlife board will hear the deer management plans. Currently on the Manti the deer ratio is 21- bucks to 100 does; objective was 15 to 17 bucks per 100 does. Typically the board would increase permit numbers, but hunters have complained of hunter congestion on the Manti, so permits will probably hold at their current numbers.
The late cow hunts will run until the end of January.
Board member Laren Huntsman reported a mountain lion had been killed in Castle Dale. Is their population up?
Behling said they look at harvest information and location of kills, but they don’t have an exact count on cougar populations. Cougars travel over a wide area.
There has been positive feedback from the hunters on the release of birds during the pheasant season. The DWR hopes to re-establish hen populations and increase numbers.
Bryan Torgerson from SITLA reported he had been hunting in the Green River area for pheasants and they were very successful there. SITLA is hoping to give the Victor Cemetery to the county for operation. They have extended the lease at the Green River Industrial Park for five years.
SITLA is working to lease Joe’s Valley land to BLM for use by the boulderers. The American Alpine Club will help with the annual lease fee.
SITLA has received positive feedback from their new grazing rules. They have been approved by the SITLA board and will go to a comment period and then to the legislature.
Jessica Grow from the forest service reported they are working on the forest plan revision. Seasonal jobs will be released in January. The forest is doing visitor review surveys to find out user satisfaction on the forest.
The forest service participated in an adopt a crag project where 20 volunteers came and helped clean the bouldering areas.
Christmas tree permits are on sale.
Larry Johansen from the Utah State Parks said all camping sites at Huntington Lake State Park now have electricity. Goblin Valley has been very busy. Jim Wells is leaving Goblin to work at Dead Horse State Park.
The disc golf tournament at Green River Golf Course went well with 62 participants. It’s estimated it brought $10,000 to $13,000 into the city as the golfers stayed two days.
There is a position open at Green River State Park non-law enforcement. A capital improvement project will take place at Green River State Park to replace restrooms.
Sherrel Ward reported the basin average precipitation is 80 percent. Mammoth-Cottonwood is 111 percent of average while Red Pine is only 57 percent and that station might not be reporting accurately. Water is still below average and the county needs a good winter for next year’s growing season.
Jordan Leonard, economic development director for the county reported on the recent bouldering festival. Half of the participants hadn’t been here before so that’s good for the county. The boulderers said they needed showers and Leonard said this could be an economic opportunity for a business.
They held a session at the museum where they educated the boulderers on the power plants and coal mines in the area.
Commissioner Paul Cowley said he was telling a man that the steam coming from the stacks at the power plants isn’t pollution, but water vapor and we need to educate people that we can co-exist with coal fired power plants and still have clean air in Emery County.
He reported the cattle guards on SR-24 fence project are in and the fence project is proceeding.
The next public lands meeting will be on January 5.