Emery County Public Lands met in February. They welcomed their new member Randall Stilson. Mark H. Williams term expired and he didn’t seek re-election. Rod Player was re-elected chairman and Ed Geary vice chairman. Player gave assignments to the lands council members: Kim McFarlane-issues pertaining to Green River area; Rod Player-non-motorized trails; Bruce Wilson-at-large member; Ed Geary-historical; JR Nelson-at large; Laren Huntsman-power generation and mining; Randall Stilson-motorized-recreation; Sherrel Ward-water; Leon McElprang-grazing.
McElprang wondered if Emery County could acquire more radar equipment for weather predicting/warnings. Nelson said Cedar Mountain has a host of services there and could be a location for radar equipment.
Ray Petersen, lands director said the county can explore that possibility.
Randy Johnson, public lands advisor said he spent a week in Washington DC with Wade from Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s office and they spoke with every office from the Utah delegation except Mia Love. They talked about Emery County moving forward with their own lands bill. Johnson said there isn’t a rush right now until it’s decided what is going to happen with Bear’s Ears National Monument. There is also legislation being put together that deals with the Antiquities Act. This will work towards putting a hold on large acreage monuments. Large acre monuments are contrary to the intent of the Antiquities Act.
Rep. Chaffetz said he would carry an Emery County bill forward. Johnson said there would need to be a lot of preparation on the Senate side.
Player requested Petersen provide a copy of the Emery County Land Use bill to all council members to do their homework on any concerns or questions with the bill. They are to go over the map and look at boundaries and be ready for a work meeting on March 7 at 9 a.m. before the regular lands council meeting.
Johnson reminded everyone of the importance of the map and once the bill is passed the map becomes law.
Wade said they will introduce Emery County’s land bill after the dust settles on the monument. They want to have something that will pass in the Senate. They have enlisted Sen. Hatch’s and Sen Lee’s office and are looking to them to share the information about the Emery County bill with the other senators. It will be a couple of months before anything would be introduced.
Rep. Rob Bishop has also asked if Emery County will look at other options. He is looking at parts of the Public Lands Initiative and the county is requested to keep an open mind.
The Washington delegation will help address the Emery County lands use bill with the Utah State legislature. Petersen said Sen. David Hinkins is aware of it.
Ward asked about the SITLA land exchanges. Bryan Torgerson from SITLA said when they first heard of the monument designation they reviewed some areas they might like to have traded out. They don’t want SITLA land within a monument. They would like to trade for oil and gas land. Johnson said SITLA has been a great partner.
Any trades for Emery County land would want to be conducted to the county’s advantage such as trades for oil and gas producing lands which have a distribution back to the county where the land originated.
Petersen talked about the recent settlement between SUWA and the Dept. of the Interior. SUWA and others brought lawsuits against the BLM on the resource management plans for the BLM field offices. An agreement was reached, but not signed yet. SUWA will drop the lawsuits if the field offices re-evaluate their travel plans. This re-evaluation is to be completed in the next two-two and a half years. Petersen said the 2003 route designation plan has been evaluated several times. The Price RMP outlines which routes are open. Petersen said he thought we were done with route designation, but SUWA is consistent, they will litigate again if they don’t like it. The Emery County land use bill would take care of the issue if passed as it adopts the 2003 route designation plan as outlined by the Price BLM RMP.
Jake Palma from the BLM reported they are getting new personnel. They are remodeling the BLM office. They are finalizing alternatives for the San Rafael Master Leasing plan. They are going over comments on the Temple Mountain recreation planning. They will scale back their focus and address camping issues in the area for now.
Petersen said the travel management plan has been a huge effort at the BLM office and all features on the ground are being looked at and it’s a lengthy process. There has been a huge increase in visitation to the Temple Mountain area with people camping all over.
Mike Leschin said the BLM would like to put up interpretive signs at Fossil Point south of Green River. Tourists are sent there, but there’s nothing there but a bunch of rocks. Jim Kirkland, the state paleontologist will identify the site bones and do a typographical and geographical map showing points of interest. The BLM would like to involve the county to help improve the road to Fossil Point and to define a parking area.
Leschin said it will be a unique opportunity for teachers and students when the paleontologists are onsite to go out and learn from them. Petersen said the county will work with the BLM on the road.
Val Payne said he would like to see more mention of Emery County and where the bones and dino specimens come from that are in the prehistoric museum in Price. Leschin said they are redoing the BLM website and he would check into making sure credit goes to Emery County for their contributions.
Dana is the wildlife biologist for the BLM she has been involved in the San Rafael River restoration project. Dried piles of tamarisk are being burned currently. They will work to keep tamarisk from re-establishing.
In the wildlife report, Chris Wood said hunter success with the 39 pronghorn tags was 100 percent. In researching the antelope migration patterns, they don’t move much when it comes to leaving summer for winter range. They do live along the Price River in the winter and are mostly scattered in the hay fields and hills. The antelope here don’t have the long migration patterns like those in Wyoming.
On March 17 at 6 p.m. in the Price office there will be a predator clinic. This will give information about the coyote bounty program. There will be no antler shed horn hunting until after April 1. Deer have been transplanted from the city to Joe’s Valley, Old Woman and Saluritis, these deer have ear tags and will hopefully mix with the local herds and move with them to the summer ranges. The moose in our area are part of the Wasatch unit. There will never be enough moose in our area to have their own unit.
Wood mentioned several openings on the RAC board for southeastern Utah; two agricultural, two sportsmen and two at-large. If interested in applying you need to get a recommendation from a group.
Torgerson reported on the grazing allotments for SITLA, they have a board policy of two 15 year terms of non-competing for a grazing permit. Their grazing permits are a little higher than BLM and increases are phased in over five years.
They have received an application for a natural gas pipeline near Johnson Bench. The next SITLA land auction will be May 24. There will be land for sale near the Green River refinery. Also land by the Huntington city ponds will be sold under a different process.
They are still working on reaching a deal with the county for the Victor Cemetery.
Keven Albrecht from the forest service said they are looking at widening 26 trails to go from 50 to 60 inch width to accommodate wider machines. There are 67 miles of trails which will expand. It won’t take too much time to do this he reported, but some trails will require more work as they have pinch points. Seasonal gate closures have taken affect. The mountain gates are still open.
Stilson wondered why there aren’t gates on Trail Mountain. He has seen snow mobiles there chasing elk.
Nelson said in the new forest plan make sure rangeland isn’t changed to wildland. The department of agriculture operates the forest service.
There is a comment period open now on the pavilion at Joe’s Valley. Albrecht said with high visitor use days in the area the pavilion was needed. There is a parking lot and bathroom already there.
In the Washington delegation reports, Ryan said Sen. Lee has been named chairman of the public lands committee. They are currently working on confirmations of cabinet and other key positions in the new administration.
In the water report the Mammoth-Cottonwood is 179 percent of average, Seely Creek is 135 percent of average, upper Joe’s Valley is 204 percent and Joe’s Valley Reservoir is expected to spill. Basinwide is 168 percent of average.
Stilson asked if the fire at Shoo Fly would have detrimental effects on Joe’s Valley. Albrecht said 1,800 acres burned. They started reseeding it with winter wheat right away and it grew 1.5-2 inches before winter. They will actively watch the area for any log jams.
Payne said the radar discussion under the county general plan would fall under the emergency management department.