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Moffat County Land Use Board

Minutes of Meeting

November 10, 2003

Minutes Land Use Board November 10, 2003 7:00 pm The Moffat County Land Use Board met at the Moffat County Courthouse Annex on November 10, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. Chairman, Burt Clements, called the meeting to order with a role call. A moment of silence was observed. The following members and staff were present. Members: Dean Gent Steve Hinkemeyer Jeremy Casterson Burt Clements Tom Deakins Jean Stetson T. Wright Dickinson Bob Grubb Richard Blakley Ed Winters Guests: John Husband Amy Hatten Staff: Ann Franklin, Natural Resources Specialist, Moffat County Approval of Minutes: Burt Clements asked if there were any corrections or additions to the October 13, 2003 Moffat County Land Use Minutes. Dean Gent moved to approve the minutes as written, seconded by Steve Hinkemeyer, motion carried. General Discussion: · Partnership for the West There was discussion over the possibility of creating a link between the County website and the Partnership for the West website that includes the Moffat County Land Use Plan and other relevant information. This link could also explain why Moffat County has chosen to support the Partnership for the West and has become a partner. Moffat County will probably not support every single issue but joining the Partnership for the West will help the County actively participate in a forum and keep informed of issues. Membership should be in harmony with the land use plan and County policy. Tom Deakins made a motion to recommend the Commissioners join the Partnership for the West. Dean Gent seconded the motion. Motion carried. · Northwest Colorado Stewardship Partnership Organizational Structure Jeremy discussed the alternatives for organization of the Northwest Colorado Stewardship Partnership. It could be formed as a non-profit or a business. It may have a policy arm and a fiscal arm. There is a range of options for the decision-making process such as consensus, majority, 2/3, 80%, etc. The LUB recommended it would be good to use the time at the next Partnership meeting on Monday to work through the entire scope of options and discuss how various organizations work. No one wants to rush into making a decision on how to formally organize the Partnership. The type of organization will dictate what type of structure and leadership is adopted. The LUB is going to recommend that the Partnership not make any decisions until it is well informed of all the options. The next meeting will be held on Monday, November 17th. · Vermillion Planning Issues A sub-committee of the LUB met with the Moffat County Commissioners to discuss RS2477 ground-truthing in the Vermillion Basin. The ground-truthing effort is near completion. The Road and Bridge Department will need to receive a formal request via the Commissioners to donate more time to the effort. There is approximately 10 days of work left to finish up the project. Dean Gent moved the LUB send a letter to the Commissioners requesting that Jeff Whilden be allotted more time on the ground-truthing effort. Richard seconded the motion. The motion carried. Another issue that arose at the Commissioner meeting was whether the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Little Snake River needs to be revised after the Instruction Memorandum #2003-274/275 was released by the BLM. John Husband and Ron Wenker will have to make a decision on how/if the BLM will revise the Resource Management Plan. It does not seem from the Instruction Memorandum that the RMP can stay the way it is currently written. The LUB discussed whether the BLM should carry out a complete plan revision rather than an amendment. Many issues have arisen since the last revision including travel management issues, wilderness proposals, RS2477 assertions, the Yampa River Basin Management Plan, Wild and Scenic implications, and others. Burt reported that the sub-committee recommended to the commissioners and the LUB that the BLM do a complete RMP revision for the entire County, not just an amendment for Vermillion Basin. John stated that the BLM hasn’t decided how they will approach the RMP process and the public involvement issue. The complete revision is currently scheduled for 2007. It will take a great deal of time and resources to complete. T. Wright suggested the Partnership could be of great assistance to the facilitation of public involvement. The focus for a complete revision would be the Little Snake Resource Area in Moffat County. There are more issues beyond Vermillion and it would be difficult to do a revision without looking at the rest of the County. The Vermillion area is a social boundary that cuts across many different management lines such as livestock permits, travel management areas, oil and gas potential, etc. The economics are related and have a countywide affect. John Husband stated that issues could still be held in abeyance under the old plan while the new plan is being re-written. The Vermillion Basin is currently open and available for oil and gas leases under the existing plan but these lands have been held in abeyance for over ten years from oil and gas leases. The Commissioners requested direction from the LUB on whether the BLM should go forward with the entire RMP revision rather than just an amendment. The issue of abeyance and its affect on the immediate leasing of the lands still needs to be addressed while the revision process is being completed. Richard Blakley motioned for the LUB to recommend that the Commissioners address the issue before the next LUB meeting by supporting the BLM in a complete RMP revision (not an amendment) while taking into account all new and relevant data and exploring the abeyance issue. This includes having the County and a LUB sub-committee (consisting of Steve, T. Wright, Burt, Dean and Jeremy) research the issue and make a recommendation while taking into account appropriate legal advice on the issue of abeyance. Dean seconded the motion. The motion carried with one abstention (Jeremy) and one vote against the motion (Steve). The current energy policy is favorable for the Vermillion Basin area to be leased for oil and gas development. If the BLM does decide to lease Vermillion Basin, then it must consider new information/data (RS2477, Moffat County’s Land Use Plan, GRBAC, Yampa River Basin Management Plan, National Sage Grouse Initiative, Wilderness, etc) or existing information that will affect the decision. There will probably be some successful blocking efforts to the leasing. It needs to be decided whether to address the issue in the revision process or to pressure the BLM to lease right away. The BLM is still under Congressional Moratorium to address RS2477. Committee Reports: Fish/Elkhead – Burt Clements A planning committee will meet on December 9th and 10th to discuss the Elkhead Expansion Project. Not much public involvement will be asked for at that meeting. A public meeting will be held later to address public concerns. T. Wright stressed that Elkhead be drained at the appropriate time of year to address the fish issue. Divers will be sent down (possibly next summer) to bolt on the screens to contain the non-native, sport fish in Elkhead Reservoir. RAC Updates – T. Wright Dickinson/John Husband The RAC met on October 30th and made a recommendation that the BLM search for additional tools to work with grazing permittees on grazing allotments. Grass banking, safe harboring for habitat improvements, etc. are some of the recommendations. The sage-grouse RAC subcommittee met last week to look at the National Sage Grouse Conservation Strategy. The recommendation was to place more emphasis on local planning efforts. Closing Comments: Ann Franklin reported that the Moffat County Natural Resources Department received a $10,000.00 archeology grant (no match required) to explore the possibility of the Fort Davey Crockett site on Browns Park Wildlife Refuge. This will take place under the instruction of Fort Lewis College Archeologist, Mona Charles, with the guidance of Marvin Moore. The project will get underway sometime this winter or spring. Ann Franklin reported that the County is looking hard at its budget and is planning to cut costs through unpaid furloughs in 2004. Personnel cuts are a possibility as well. Ed Winters questioned whether the Division of Wildlife is concerned over West Nile implications to sage grouse populations. Jean Stetson stated that there is a very large concern and the Fish and Wildlife Service is planning to streamline their 60 and 90 day findings to try to address the sage grouse concerns/petitions in a more expedient process. Burt Clements is concerned about a disease in deer fawns. He has observed an unusual number of sick fawns in the area. Adjournment: Richard Blakley moved to adjourn the meeting. Dean Gent seconded the motion. Motion carried. Burt Clements adjourned the meeting at 8:45 p.m.

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