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Moffat County Land Use Board

Minutes of Meeting

October 13, 2003

Minutes Moffat County Land Use Board October 13, 2003 7:00 p.m. The Moffat County Land Use Board met at the Moffat County Courthouse Annex on October 13, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. President, Burt Clements, called the meeting to order with a roll call. A moment of silence was observed. The following members, staff and guests were present. Members: Dean Gent Steve Hinkemeyer Jeremy Casterson Burt Clements Rick Hammel Tom Deakins Ed Winters T. Wright Dickinson Tom Deakins Jean Stetson Guests: Kathleen Taylor John Husband Sandy O. Laurie Hammel Staff: Les Hampton, Ex-Officio, Moffat County Commissioner Ann Franklin, County Natural Resources Specialist Approval of Minutes: September 8, 2003 Burt Clements presented the minutes of the September 8, 2003 Moffat County Land Use Board and asked for any corrections or additions. Rick Hammel moved the minutes be accepted as written, Steve Hinkemeyer seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved. General Discussion BLM Instruction Memorandums Regarding Wilderness Study Areas – John Husband John Husband presented two instruction memorandums (No. 2003-274 & No. 2003-275) relating to the BLM’s wilderness policy. Authority for the establishment of wilderness study areas ended on October 21, 1993. Any lands designated after 1993 are no longer considered WSA’s. Although the BLM does have the ability to determine if there are wilderness characteristics, wilderness study areas (WSA’s) are not one of the outcomes that can come out of the inventory. They can inventory areas for any resource values and they can choose to plan for existing wilderness character but the BLM cannot designate a WSA. Although, there can be ACEC’s (Areas of Critical Environmental Concern) or other options. The BLM is expecting litigation over the issue. It would take a change in the existing Resource Management Plan (RMP) to not issue oil and gas leases in Vermillion Basin. The Colorado policies from 1997 will now have to be revised. The LUB questioned the BLM’s ability to manage for wilderness character beyond a WSA. The LUB discussed the possibility of seeking legal advice from Connie Brooks and submitting comments to John Husband and Ron Winker in a timely fashion. Tom Deakins made a motion to recommend to the Commissioners that they have Kathleen Taylor and Jeff Comstock contact Connie Brooks for legal advice regarding the issue. Rick seconded the motion. Motion carried. Interim management policy is not supposed to be applied outside of WSA’s. New information must be weighed and evaluated – it must be factual and substantiated. There are plans to amend the RMP for Vermillion Basin because of the new set of issues that were identified. Partnership for the West – T. Wright Dickinson Jeff and T. Wright attended a meeting for the Partnership for the West, a new lobbying group that has formed to create a collaborative approach to address important issues. Public schools that are located in forested counties were represented, among others including oil and gas, stock growers, wool growers, the CEO of Kennecott, Dave Petri from Tom Brown, Inc., etc, along with many Senators and Congress Reps. If organizations wish to participate, they can put their information on the website and may very specifically define what they are supporting. It is basically a clearinghouse to share information. Issues include environmentally sound energy, common sense regulation, preservation of public access to federal lands, water for the future, increased jobs and prosperity, and greater state and local control. The Partnership for the West is organizing steering committees to work on the issues. Les recommended that the Commissioners not sign on as members until the LUB has time to review the website and can make a formal recommendation to the commissioners for County participation and support of specific issues. Northwest Colorado Stewardship Partnership – Jeremy Casterson The Partnership has decided to develop ecological models for three vegetation types in Moffat County that can be applied across the landscape. They decided to focus on a specific area – Seven Mile Ridge/Bald Mountain. A Fire Learning Network (FLN) workshop will be held in January. Landscape goals will be established as a group. Friday, October 17th, is the next meeting to discuss the three ecological types – Steve Monson, Wayne Burkhart, and Roy Roath have been invited to speak about sagebrush, pinyon-juniper and mountain shrub vegetation communities in the morning. In the afternoon, the Partnership will take a field trip to the Seven Mile Ridge area to observe representative areas for the vegetation communities. There will be a few more meetings before the FLN workshop in January to create the ecological models and complete the homework. John Husband mentioned that the Partnership would need to think about organizing into a formal group. It will be necessary sometime in the future. Canada Wolf Conference – Rick & Laurie Hammel Rick and Laurie attended the International Wolf Congress in Canada and presented what they heard to the LUB. They stressed the need for the LUB to be active in following the development of the wolf management plans and to be aware of management actions. Committee reports: · No sage grouse report. · Jeff will call a meeting with the sub-committee to talk about the ground-truthing progress in the next couple of weeks. · Endangered Fish meeting: A meeting will be held at the Craig Holiday Inn to discuss fish escapement alternatives on December 9th and a reservoir fisheries management plan for the Elkhead Expansion Project on December 10th. The meeting will start at 1:00 pm on December 9th and will finish by 3:00 pm on December 10th. Closing Comments Burt mentioned that some landowners that have received elk damage permits but are also wanting to charge the public large trespass fees. Announcements · The next meeting of the Land Use Board will be at 7:00 pm on Monday, November 10, 2003 at the Courthouse Annex. Adjournment Rick H. moved, Dean G. seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

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Moffat County Departments 2010 Census information Mainpage Accounting Administration Assessor Airport Budget Overview Building Inspector Calendar of Events Clerk and Recorder Cooperative Extension County Commissioners Crisis Intervention Moffat County Fair Fairgrounds Human Resources Landfill Library Links to Other Websites Moffat County Owned Minerals Museum Natural Resources Oil and Gas Parks & Recreation Planning Department Purchasing Road and Bridge Sheriff Sheriff's Office Emerg Mgmt Social Services Sunset Meadows Treasurers Office Veterans Services

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