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- County will work with consultant to develop Resource Management Plan
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
"The state is requiring each county to do a Resource Management Plan (RMP)," said Glenn Greenhalgh, county planning administrator and IT director.
A Resource Plan is intended to communicate the county's point-of-view relative to a resource within the county (e.g., rangelands, mineral resources, wildlife).
Five and Six County AOGs are working on developing an RMP that will help their member counties.
Utah is considered a Federal Lands state, with 65 percent of its roughly 53 million acres owned by Federal Agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Department of Defense.
Though each of these Federal agencies has a general plan for managing their lands, many of Utah's counties either make brief mention of Federal lands or no mention at all. As stated in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, "Land use plans of the Secretary [of the Interior]... shall be consistent with State and local plans to the maximum extent [the Secretary] finds consistent with Federal law and the purposes of this Act."
Many counties are underutilizing the cooperative power that they have by not including Federal Lands in their general plans. While Federal and State policy agree on a multiple use, sustained yield management program, Federal and local government do not always concur on the balance of those uses.
In order to ensure Federal plans reflect local desires, the Utah Legislature recently passed House Bill 323 (amended by HB 219) requiring that each county develop a Resource Management Plan to be adopted into its long-range General Plan.
"There are six consultants with Five and Six County AOGs working on the project in certain areas," said Greenhalgh.
For example, he said, the consultants are accumulating information about the Sage Grouse, waterways, wilderness, and the Pinion Pine, among others.
"Brian B. Bremner, Garfield County Engineer, has an outline and plan that addresses the requirements best," said Greenhalgh. "He did the Piute County plan."
Greenhalgh presented commissioners with the table of contents from that plan to show what had been addressed by Bremner.
The legislature requires a county to develop a resource management plan as a part of the county's general plan; establishes content requirements for a county's resource management plan; requires the state to provide information and technical assistance to a county; requires a county planning commission to coordinate with other counties; establishes a county's general plan as a basis for coordinating with the federal government; establishes administrative duties of the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office with regard to county resource management plans; and makes technical and conforming changes.
"We couldn't use Mark Ward, Senior Policy Analyst/ Public Lands Counsel, and so we needed a different individual," said Greenhalgh. "Bremner and I talked about the resource management plan we need over the telephone."
Greenhalgh said that because of the Five and Six County AOG cooperation, there was a great deal of data being accumulated.
The plans of the two AOGs are being put together as one, he said.
"The plans have to be individualized," said Greenhalgh. "For example, Garfield County's biggest source of air pollution is sage brush and Piute County has no wilderness lands."
To accomplish the purposes of the bill, each county is required to prepare
and adopt a comprehensive, long-range general plan for present and future needs of the county; for growth and development of all or any part of the land within the unincorporated portions of the county; and as a basis for communicating and coordinating with the federal government on land and resource management issues.
"Consultants need to be talking to the counties," said Greenhalgh. "It is the responsibility of the county to have a resource plan."
According to requirements of the bill, the general plan needs to provide for health, general welfare, safety, energy conservation, transportation, prosperity, civic activities, aesthetics, and recreational, educational, and cultural opportunities.
It must consider the reduction of the waste of physical, financial, or human resources that result from either excessive congestion or excessive scattering of population; the efficient and economical use, conservation, and production of the supply of food and water; and drainage, sanitary, and other facilities and resources; the use of energy conservation and solar and renewable energy resources; the protection of urban development; the protection or promotion of moderate income housing; the protection and promotion of air quality; historic preservation; identifying future uses of land that are likely to require an expansion or significant modification of services or facilities provided by each affected entity; and an official map.
The general plan also must contain a resource management plan to provide for the protection, conservation, development, and managed use of resources that are critical to the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the county and of the state.
"We do need to get rolling on our plan," said Byron Woodland, commissioner. "We are running out of time."
"The RMP needs to be approved by the county planning commission by April 21, 2016," said Greenhalgh.
The resource management plan is to be centered on the following core resources: energy; air; and water; and contain detailed plans regarding: mining; land use; livestock and grazing; irrigation; agriculture; fire management; noxious weeds; forest management; water rights; ditches and canals; water quality and hydrology; flood plains and river terraces; wetlands; riparian areas; predator control; wildlife; fisheries; recreation and tourism; energy resources; mineral resources; cultural, historical, geological, and paleontological resources; wilderness; wild and scenic rivers; threatened, endangered, and sensitive species; land access; law enforcement; and economic considerations.
For each item listed, a county's resource management plan needs to establish any relevant findings pertaining to the item; establish clearly defined objectives; and outline general policies and guidelines on how the objectives are to be accomplished.
Greenhalgh suggested that Bremner be put on the next commission agenda.
He said that he would also work closely with Bremner.
"He knows Garfield County but I know Juab County," said Greenhalgh.
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