The Emery County Public Lands Council will follow through on the assurances they made more than two years ago– to bring their land use proposal to the community before any attempts are made to move the legislation– by sharing that proposal in a series of public meetings over the next two weeks.
The open house meetings will be held starting Wednesday, June 22 at Huntington Elementary. The following night, the council will host a meeting in Ferron at the multipurpose building, followed the next week by meetings on June 29 in Green River at the John Wesely Powell Museum, and on June 30 in Castle Dale at the old Court House. The meetings will all be held from 7 to 9 p.m.
Emery County Public Lands Director Ray Peterson explained that the purpose of the meetings is to “inform the public of the recommendation that the lands council has made to the Emery County Commission, and give them an opportunity to make comments on how their resources might be impacted.”
The Public Lands Council will give a short presentation on the proposed land use legislation, and then will allow community members to meet with them to view copies of the language in the bill, to see a map of the proposals, and to provide any comments they have to the Commission.
Peterson has been impressed with the work the council has done in crafting the proposal. “I think the lands council has really done a good job,” he said. “The intent of the lands council was to finalize wilderness designation, but not to impact current resource use. And I think they have come up with a very, very reasonable recommendation.”
The council hopes the meetings will be a benefit to the public, as well as to those working on the proposal. “We hope to bring a product to the public that they can see the wisdom in, and [that they will] see the work that the Lands Council has put into it,” Peterson said. “From the public, we’d like them to make the Commission aware if there is a resource out there that we haven’t seen, that we need to address.”