By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Juab County Commissioners do not approve of any of the
alternatives offered by the forest service as part of the
management plan revision.
Robert Steele, Juab County Commissioner, wrote a
letter which was approved by the other two commissioners,
was signed and sent to the forest supervisor for the Uinta
National Forest.
"As county commissioners, we feel that none of your
alternatives meets the needs of the people and should be
completely rewritten." he said.
County commissioners do not think that the forest
service management revision proposal addresses the needs of
the people of America and, in addition, fails to recognize
what has made the country great.
"It fails to recognize the uses of the growing
population," said Steele. "It restricts use, it locks people
out, it destroys opportunity and wastes our natural
resources."
The letter was written to submit the commission's
ideas concerning to the forest management plan revision.
"As county commissioners, we represent approximately
8,000 people in Juab County," said Steele. "Over the years
we have developed a county general plan."
He said the plan, and its adoption, involved many
hours of hard work, public meetings, and on-site
inspections.
As part of that mission statement, he said, the county
asserted that public lands should be managed for multiple
use which was to include the preservation and protection of
commodity uses such as water resources, mineral resources,
and gazing rights as well as amenity uses such as wildlife
and recreation.
"We believe that it is wise to limit the designation
of wilderness areas," said Steele. "Unilateral expansion of
Wilderness will be detrimental to the multiple industries
which depend upon public lands to sustain their livelihood
and their livestock and will also be counter-productive to
the economy of Juab County."
The commission also backed the mission statement in
declaring the goals of land use planning and management
including the encouragement of an improved living
environment, economic expansion and opportunity, and
purposeful growth within Juab County.
Although the letter was approved in time to be under
the wire for the old time-table, after the meeting on
Monday, it was learned that the comment period had been
extended for two weeks.
The comment period was extended to Oct. 1, and though
that date has also passed, comments can still be sent via
e-mail to abauer01@fs.fed.us for the next day or so.
Due to the recent tragic events in the eastern United
States, the comment period for the Draft Forest Plan and
Draft Environmental Impact Statement was extended to allow
additional time for interested parties to submit their
comments on the proposed future management of the Uinta
National Forest.
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