By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Two Juab County Commissioners, enough to pass the action, support turning over federal lands to the state but one does not.
Clint Painter, commissioner, does not think the state is anymore capable than the federal government in managing public lands.
As a result of commission concerns, Doug Heaton, Kane County Commission Chairman and a founder of American Lands Council (ALC) met with the commission to explain the stand of the organization and to request that the commission continue to support ALC.
"We do not have torrents of cash," said Heaton. "It is a local government-driven organization. Ninety-five percent comes from the counties."
Before the commission made a final decision, Rick Carlton, commissioner, asked to see the financial records of ALC. Heaton told him that those records were open to the public.
"The American Lands Council is a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit organization founded in 2012 to support legislative efforts for the transfer of public lands for local stewardship."
'We have people in Salt Lake who have never been past the Payson-Dixon line trying to make decisions for us [in rural Utah]," said Clint Painter, commissioner. "The people in Salt Lake are like the people in the east, they have no idea."
Since he had become a commissioner, said Carlton, he had become more skeptical of state management.
Byron Woodland, commission chairman, said that he was basically an environmentalist, not to the extreme, and he favored the transfer of public lands to state control for that reason. He did not think the resources in Juab County under federal jurisdiction were being well managed.
Painter said that grazing had been reduced so much in Mona Pole Canyon that it was not worth it for ranchers to try for a grazing permit.
Woodland said that the three commissioners would discuss their annual membership fee and would make a decision soon. He did support continuing membership in the ALC.
Heaton told Juab County Commissioners that Ken Ivory, West Jordan (R-UT, District 47), who was elected to the Utah House of Representatives and later came under fire from the Campaign for Accountability (CFA), which accused Ivory, as the President of the American Lands Council (ALC), of being a "snake oil salesman" who was "engaging in an illegal scheme to defraud local government officials out of taxpayer funds," was attacked by that organization because he was successful in fighting for the cause.
"It was a slanderous attack levied against ALC President Ken Ivory by a group (CFA) seeking to derail our mission of transferring federal public lands to willing states," said Heaton.
Had the ALC had enough money, they would have manned an advertising counter-attack.
He said that it was clearly a political stunt because the push for a land transfer is having success throughout the west and throughout the nation and Ivory had made great strides for the movement in just three years.
"We are joining forces with Federalism in Action," he said.
BYU has a full law review article, 85 pages long, with hundreds of footnotes, showing that the federal government has a compact based duty to dispose of the land; they completely ignore that the Federalist Society, 40,000 scholars, professors and law students, have done a complete legal analysis and they ignore that eastern states had the same political debate and compelled Congress to transfer the lands to the states.
He said CFA was simply trying to shut down the political debate and that they were engaging in "bullying tactics," and that CFA was created by left-leaning operatives who are ideologically opposed to the land transfer.
"That is the low road the opposition seems to prefer," Heaton responded, "but it's nothing more than another deceptive publicity stunt. Ken Ivory is a man of impeccable integrity, an unfailing advocate of liberty, and a brilliant legal mind. We are blessed to have him leading this effort because better management of our public lands truly will benefit our counties, states, and our nation as a whole."
"I am an advocate in pushing forward," said Carlton.
However, he asked what Ivory was paid by ALC.
"I pay him $10,000 a month," said Heaton.
Commissioners agreed that the salary was more than reasonable for a man of Ivory's talent. Ivory also gave up his lucrative legal practice to become president of ALC.
Carlton said that he had debated with Painter, who fears that state control will be inadequate and that, eventually, acquired public lands will be up for sale to the highest bidder.
"What guarantee do we have that the lands will be retained by the state?" asked Carlton.
During the 2012 General Session, the Utah Legislature passed H.B. 148, in an effort to develop a new model for public land management and use. Governor Herbert signed the bill into law on March 23, 2012.
Public lands contemplated by the bill exclude national parks, all national monuments (except the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument), specific congressionally-designated wilderness areas, Department of Defense areas, and tribal lands.
Heaton said that the federal government loses 27-cents for every dollar it spends on land management, a lost to taxpayers of approximately $2 billion a year. States generate on average $14.51 for every dollar they spend managing public lands.
He said that the federal government had closed off roads in Dixie and that it was transparent that the federal government was working to diminish and finally close out access.
"Our multiple uses are being closed out," said Heaton.
Timbering a forest kept it healthy but was now restricted.
"Fires, and the cost to fight them, have grown catastrophic because our forests have been managed for maximum combustibility," Heaton said. "The fuel load continues to build. We are beginning to reap predictable consequences."
The maximum density of a forest should be 40 trees per acre [An apple farm should have a density of 20 trees per acre for highest yield according to WyzAnt.]
Each tree uses 50 gallons of water per day, said Heaton. The more trees there are per acre the more stressed the trees become. The more stressed they are the more susceptible they are to pine beetles.
According to the Bureau of Land Management, the federal government controls over 50 percent of all land in the western states, but less than 5 percent of all lands east of Colorado.
"You guys will manage your own county," said Heaton. "If the lands are under state control, the land will revert back to true local control."
"Can the state afford to manage the lands?" asked Woodland.
"Two years ago, the state offered up state lands to the county," said Carlton.
What will happen if the state gets down the road 25-years and cannot afford the land that has been transferred? he asked.
"It is clear that, but for the federal government constructing the liberty of the western communities to govern themselves, their lands and resources; we would be experiencing a national economic renaissance," Heaton said.
PLPCO (Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office) directed a study and economic analysis of the transfer of public lands. PLPCO put together a team of economists from the University of Utah, Utah State University, and Weber State University. The team worked on the study for over 18 months preparing a 700 plus page final report.
Heaton emphasized that the American Lands Council is not a lobby group, but a team and said some counties in New Mexico, Nevada and Idaho have joined.
"I have found supporters all over the nation, not just in western states," said Heaton.
The American Lands Council was formed two years ago by Heaton and a number of county commissioners and state legislators in Utah and Nevada.
