By Julie Johansen
The new year began with welcoming two new members to the Emery County Public Lands Council: Travis Richard from Orangeville and Andy Gordon, a Huntington resident. The next action item was to select a chairman and vice chair to head the council. A motion to suspend the rules and select by acclamation the current leaders was entered, Rod Player will remain the chairman and Ray Peterson, Vice Chairman.
Redge Hansen, the State Public Lands Director then addressed the group via Zoom. He had invited Kathy Davis from the Governor’s Office of Public Lands to accompany him on the discussion about Utah state’s lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for not following the multiple use designation from 1976, “Stand for our Land”.
As the lawsuit is called, it would force the federal government to relinquish control over approximately 18.5 million acres of public lands in state. The state feels that the federal government is holding onto “unappropriated lands” without a designated purpose. He then explained the purposed management of these lands if the Supreme Court considers this suit or takes action on it.
Some questions from the council included if mineral rights will accompany if the state receives control. The answer was that the state would accept no land without all rights. Another question was about the PILT money the county receives from the federal agencies from the acres in the county, and the answer was that funds would still come to the county.
The price of grazing AUM’s on these lands came up and the answer was that state codes would determine all these things. Utah is alone in this lawsuit, but 13 other states are anxiously waiting to see how Utah does in this suit.
The agencies then began their reports with Kyle Beagley from the BLM stating that they have completed the Swell Travel Management Plan and are now going to implement the plan. They will be putting signage up to designate which routes are closed and which are open for public use. These routes are al mapped and can be seen on the BLM website.
Cash Stallings, Area Water Engineer, introduced himself and stated that he replaced Marc Stilson in the Price office. Stilson is now with the Colorado River Authority Board. He will report Legislative actions regarding water to the council as they happen.
Dal Gray from the Division of Oil Gas and Mining (DOGM) reported that the Kenilworth fire has been sealed off. There is an oil production increase in Utah and Emery County that is the fifth largest oil producing county in the state. This is a result of Urban Energy purchase of the oil company.
Department of Wildlife and Department of Recreation are now joining their law enforcement work.
Trust Lands have a parcel of land for sale near Hatt’s Ranch in Green River area that will be sold by public auction. They have also leased acreage to the Solar Farm near Moore, Utah.
Daren Olsen, District Forest Ranger, noted a Skyline Logging permit of about 100,000 acres. This is to clean up the area of bettle kill and diseased trees in this area. They are still working on the Forest Plan. Wildlife gates are now being closed but travel gates will not be closed until the snow begins to melt.
Ryan Jones with the Department of Agriculture announced a Conservation Fair at the USDA Office in Castle Dale from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 16. There will be officials there to discuss ag issues with farmers/ranchers. The grants open for Ag Water Optimization will be discussed and application help available.