• DWR announces they plan to close some roads in Juab County

• Nephi Recreation releases conceptual plans for new recreation complex

• Mona City will partner with Nephi Recreation to provide programs in the community

• Obits

• Classifieds

• Home

By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent

DWR (Division of Wildlife Resources) representatives presented Juab County with a PILT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) and then made the attention-caching announcement that DWR plans to close some roads.

The roads are all in the West Desert region of Juab County.

Jason Vernon, Regional Supervisor in the Central Region for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR), Riley Peck, Central Region Wildlife Manager DWR, Robbie Edgel, Watershed Restoration Initiative DWR attended the meeting.

"The check that we have for you this year is for $5,777," said Vernon.

PILT funds are Federal payments to local governments that help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable Federal lands within their boundaries.

The surprise was the news that DWR is considering closing some roads in Juab County. Those road closures would pattern those made in Wallsburg which will serve as a prototype for Juab County.

Wallsburg is a town in Wasatch County.

"Have you identified any roads?" asked Rick Carlton, commissioner.

Every few years, the DWR does a roads assessment and, Edgel said, as part of the inventory DWR had determined that there would be some roads that would be discontinued.

"If you are planning to discontinue some roads, why were we not included in the discussion?" asked Byron Woodland, commissioner. "We take road closures very seriously."

Most of the roads are just two track roads. Two-track dirt roads are legal places where people have driven enough times to form a road, but the ground has never been graded. Two-track roads may require 4WD (Four Wheel Drive) or not, but the appearance is two ruts carved in the desert by tires.

Two-track dirt roads usually require a high-clearance vehicle because of bushes growing on the hump between the tire tracks and because of rocks hiding behind the bushes.

"It (road closure) is a very sensitive issue in our county," said Carlton. "We have identified all of our roads. We have been in litigation to keep our roads open."

In 1976 Congress repealed an old mining law, R.S. 2477, as part of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

But Congress grandfathered any valid R.S. 2477 right that existed at the time.

As a result, counties seeking legal recognition of their R.S. 2477 claims were required to prove—through historical records, photos or witness testimony —that the roads were used as far back as the 1960s.

Juab County entered into litigation to prove its right to some R.S. 2477 roads.

"We want to make it plain," said Clinton Painter, commission chairman, "that you are not closing any roads without us going out to look at those roads with you."

Some of the roads proposed to be closed will just be seasonally closed because of big game, said Vernon. Others just don't make sense to keep open.

Carlton asked how the road closures in Wallsburg went.

Vernon said that interlocal agreements were made and that those were accepted on both sides.

He would like to see the Wallsburg prototype, said Woodland.

"Do you have the information in shapefile?" he asked.

The shapefile format is a digital vector storage format for storing geometric location and associated attribute information. The shapefile format was introduced in the early 1990s. It is now possible to read and write geographical datasets using the shapefile format with a wide variety of software. Data attributes can create infinitely many representations about geographic data providing the ability for powerful and accurate computations.

"Some of those roads (proposed to be closed) might be prescriptive use roads," said Woodland.

The prescriptive easement right is an ownership interest in property and is as "real" as any other form of ownership. Prescriptive easements are easements created not by purchase or inheritance but by use over time. A road prescriptive use comes if the road is used over a period of time.

"One year ago," said Painter, "BLM (Bureau of Land Management) blindsided us by limiting use for some areas."

Vernon said that the proposal was in the early stages and that the DWR had come to the commission in order to get their feedback on any road closure. The commissioner would be included in any discussions and planning.

"This is just in the early stages," he said.

"We appreciate your talking to us," said Carlton.

Painter said that the commission would want to be included in looking at the roads which might be closed and that some of the roads the commission may not want closed.

Woodland said that he would like the pond up Salt Creek Canyon, located to the east as the turn is made from SR 132 East on Forest Service property, to be restocked with fish.

The pond is on Jenkins Flat and it needs to be dredged which would be a job for the Forest Service. However, the pond does need to have fish planted there and that is the job of DWR.

"For 30 years, you could catch your limit of fish there," said Woodland. "We would like to get the fish back."

"We decided that the fish were self-supporting," said Vernon. "That is not the case now and we will look into it."