Commission hears concerns on wild horse/burro issue

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The Emery County commissioners met in their first meeting in March.
Dustin Huntington spoke on behalf of the Western Rangelands Conservation Association, Inc. He said the county donated to the organization in 2013. A group of ranchers formed the Western Rangeland Association to deal with the wild horse and burro problem on public lands. The overabundance of these animals has led to degradation of the rangelands.
As the population of the wild horse and burros grew, the livestock grazers were asked to reduce the numbers of cattle on the allotments in these problem areas. The horses and burros are there 24/7 365 days a year. The cattle are only there for a limited time. Huntington said the reason the suit was filed against the BLM was to urge them to keep the wild horse and burros within the BLM’s set management objective numbers.
“I am a full-time rancher in Emery County, I rely on these ranges and have spent thousands of dollars acquiring permits, and I can’t afford for the wild horse and burros to put me out of business,” said Huntington.
Huntington is the only plaintiff in the case from Emery County. The past few years he has only had 30-50 percent use of his allotment. He said the trial will begin in April this year and he asked the county to donate $1,000 to help the fight.
Commissioner Cowley said he agrees with the lawsuit. He has talked to the BLM about the overstock of wild horse and burros. When animals are removed from the rangeland, the BLM must house the animals until they die naturally.
The BLM has studied the wild horse and burro populations and the wild horse groups have put a lot of pressure on the BLM concerning the animals.
Huntington said their group has been fighting through the wild horse groups and will now be at the table with the BLM.
“We aren’t trying to eliminate wild horses and burros, We just want the BLM to manage the horses, like they manage the cattlemen.”
County Attorney Mike Olsen said the organization is serving a purpose and the BLM responds to litigation. The commission approved a $1,000 donation.
They opened bids for the Request for Proposals for Event Coordinator. They only received one bid. Commissioner Paul Cowley recommended they readvertise for the position. Commissioner Keith Brady explained this is a contract position and the travel bureau has budgeted $20,000 for this position. It is a performance based position. He said the idea was to hire someone to coordinate events and festivals for the county and possibly take over the fair from the recreation department. A hot air balloon festival and a mud run are two of the events the applicant wants to coordinate. “Really the sky’s the limit on events,” said Commissioner Brady.
Commissioner Ethan Migliori said the county would like more tourism on this side of the county. If there are more events that fill hotels, maybe someone would take an interest in putting in a new hotel on this side of the county. The idea of the events coordinator is to attract more people here. “The bouldering is increasing but we’re not making an effort to capitalize on it. If this job increases visitation then revenues go up,” said Commissioner Migliori.
Commissioner Brady said the problem he sees in waiting and readvertising, is the short time frame to organize any events for this season, the longer it’s pushed back the harder it will be to get something going this year. It would push events to the fall and into next year. The time frame on the position will need to be adjusted to reflect this.
Commissioner Cowley said he would like to give the public more notice and more opportunity to respond.
Commissioner Brady said he was hoping to take care of it so they could discuss it in travel bureau in their next meeting.
The commission opened sealed bids for sale of county owned property. They approved the bid from Kyle Willis for the small piece of property in Lawrence with the cost of the paperwork to be added to the bid.
Lori Ann Larsen from the Emery County Historical Society requested a rental fee waiver at the Museum of the San Rafael for their monthly meeting. She said they use the museum in the winter months and in the summers they go on field trips.
McCoy Christiansen spoke on behalf of the Emery Rodeo Team for a donation to the Emery High Rodeo on April 9. He said the rodeo brings a lot of participants and their families from outside the area. The local rodeo club members provide many service hours to the county. The commission approved $250.
The commission approved an Amendment of Interagency Coordination and Sub-Recipient Contract Agreement between Emery County and SEUALG and reduced the amount of the original contract by $9,489.
Ray Petersen, public lands director explained the Bureau of Land Management’s invitation of consulting party status for the Monticello/Moab Field Office development of a Class I existing information inventory and three Class II probabilistic field surveys from the San Rafael Desert and Molen Reef areas. The BLM will be looking at cultural resources and the county will be part of that process and provide information. Petersen will be the county representative with Rod Player, lands council chairman as the alternate.
The board approved an application for Transportation and Utility Systems and Facilities on Federal Land to increase width of the right of way on Gilles Road to install culverts. Petersen said the road was damaged with a storm event and the repair work would extend out of the current right of way so the application to widen the right of way is needed.
The commission approved out-of-state travel for Ray Petersen and Keith Brady to Washington D.C. for when the hearings take place on the Public Lands Initiative.
Adam Gardner was hired as a part time Equipment Operator I for the Road Department working in the Green River area.
The board approved the Lease Agreement between Emery County and Cellular, Inc. Network Corporation d.b.a. Verizon Wireless to expand generator building to accommodate a larger generator.