For those who were not aware there was a meeting on Nov 8th in Lindon where Rep Curtis, Ray Petersen and Emery County Commissioners Kent Wilson and Lynn Sitterud attended to try and clarify the Emery County Public Lands bill.
Emery County Public Land Bill Meeting
There were three people who left Facebook reports on this meeting, this is from the Blue Ribbon Coalition:
I attended a meeting Thursday, November 8th, in Lindon, Utah hosted by Lone Peak 4-Wheeler Jeep Club. Representative Curtis, Ron Dean (representative from Senator Hatch's office), and Ray Peterson (Emery County Public Lands Administrator) were there to address concerns about Congressional Bill “Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018” (H.R. 5727). However, I don't think that most of the OHV'ers that attended, including myself, were satisfied with the answers to the questions they were asked.
The main issue is that the current language does not make any assurances that we would need in this kind of bill. Despite speaking for an hour, the Curtis/Hatch/Emery County representatives didn't squarely address the bill, itself. Instead, Rep. Curtis held a copy of the memo leaked several years ago, which included the Swell on a list of potential monuments. Why didn't he hold a copy of his own bill, and directly answer questions? He touted the bill as combating a "winner take all" mentality, yet the bill appears to offer OHV opponents a "winner take some now, and we'll negotiate the rest later" solution. None of the Curtis/Hatch/Emery County representatives seemed open to including OHV benefits that would last beyond the day that the bill passes. Rather than defending responsible access, they focused on defending their intentions. Toward the end of the meeting, a similar sentiment was voiced by Clif Koontz (Executive Director of Ride with Respect and fierce advocate for trails in the Swell): "You may have great intentions, but at this late stage in the legislative process, we need action."
Rep. Curtis and Sen. Hatch are pushing to get the Emery County bill pushed through as part of an omnibus package by the end of this legislative term. If you don't remember, here is a reminder - the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 designated two million acres of wilderness in nine states, designated thousands of miles of new additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, made three additions to the National Park System, and expanded current National Park designations. Omnibus packaging is supposed to be reserved for bills that are widely supported, which clearly doesn't apply to the current Emery County bill. The Curtis/Hatch/Emery County representatives deserve credit for showing up, but they did nothing to make the bill acceptable for us, so it doesn't belong in a package.
A huge thanks to all of the clubs and individual ohv'ers that showed up, and to Lone Peak 4-Wheeler Jeep Club for arranging the meeting.
BlueRibbon Coalition Lone Peak 4 Wheelers Jeep Club Sage Riders Motorcycle Club Ride with Respect Castle Country OHV Association Utah 4 Wheel Drive Association and all the others.
This report was made by Marlin Sharp, from the Lone Peak 4 Wheelers Jeep Club:
Report on Thursday’s Meeting concerning Emery Bill H.R. 5727
Thank you for participating in the meeting concerning U.S. House Bill 5727 that affects our OHV trails in the San Rafael. Representative John Curtis, a representative from Senator Orrin Hatch and commissioners from Emery County came and talked extensively on what the legislation is hoping to accomplish. In short they strongly suggested: Because of the change in the U.S. House of Representatives and by not doing anything now, we may possibility loose more of our access, resources and grazing rights in the Swell. At the same time the OHV community addressed concerns with the lack of language in the bill that might exclude routing around future trouble areas on the roads and trails. This could possibly lead to whole trail closures.
We had approximately 100 people in attendance consisting of 18 OHV group members from all over Utah. Included were Mike Swenson from USALL and Blue Ribbon Coalition’s Rick Foster and their lawyer. We want to thank Clif Koontz of ‘Ride With Respect’ for his presentation and comprehensive work in evaluating and presenting the difficulties with the bill.
The meeting lasted about 90 minutes. It was informative with all sides having an opportunity to voice their feelings, questions and suggestions. The meeting was civil and productive. We now should do our part by promptly sending constructive comments to Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Lee and Representative Bishop of the Utah delegation.
Political stakeholders talked about having spent hundreds of hours on this bill. They said it’s still in process and are tying to get the best settlement they can in our behalf. Considering the political climate coming next year in Washington D.C., leaders are moving quickly. Opinions will vary about the meetings success but at least we know more what we are up against in protecting our access in the Swell.
I myself have left this report on the meeting:
While I agree somewhat with Marlin Sharp's report on the Nov 8th meeting, I must respectfully disagree with some of it also.
Rep. Curtis talked extensively about keeping environmental groups in his "legislative box," pretty well dismissing most all of our concerns saying, "just work with me" but offering us nothing. He is going to keep his box closed to the OHV people until we give up completely on all 4 amendments we have been asking for, even while he admitted the reason the bill calls for no new roads or trails is because the environmentalists demanded it say it or they won't support his bill.
Curtis stated they believe this bill would hopefully prevent any road and trail closures. “Hopefully prevent” are words that anger OHV advocates. Our elected officials should be certain not just hopeful, but the closest thing to certainty provided by this bill is that BLM will be forced to close any trails that are found to impact sensitive resources such as archaeological sites because the bill would prohibit relocating the trail to avoid those resources.
Also, the report said all sides had the opportunity to voice their feelings, questions and suggestions. I didn't feel I was given the opportunity to do that. Rep. Curtis took over the meeting meant for the OHV groups to have time to talk about our side. He arrived early for his meeting and insisted (although he agreed to a 7:30 meeting) he had to talk right then because he had another meeting to leave for by 8 p.m., thereby effectively shut down the meeting intended for OHV groups to voice their feelings. I arrived at the 6:30 meeting about 10 minutes late myself, but I think it couldn't only have been 10 minutes later at the most Curtis arrived and took over the meeting. So, the OHV advocates were only allowed about 20 minutes for the hour-long meeting meant for us.
Yes, the meeting was civil, although Rep. Curtis threatened twice to walk out--once because he and the commissioners were forced to defend their comments made on public record about selling OHV users down the river, having planned it that way according to the consultant Randy Johnson then laughing about it! Bad joke they keep claiming, well as an OHV advocate, I don't appreciate being the brunt of that bad joke and they have NEVER offered an official apology for it. I still believe they meant it, they're just trying to cover it over now as a “bad joke”.
The other time he threatened to walk out was over a comment by Mike Swenson when Curtis became huffy and started talking about how hard he's worked on this bill, then admitted it was his staff working hard and he said "Don't go throwing my staff under the bus or I'll leave now."
I would like to personally say to Rep. Curtis we as OHV advocates have worked very hard ourselves getting the word out there about the issues with this bill and you, the Emery County Commissioners and Emery County Public Lands Council have been throwing us under the bus since you introduced this bill in May. But, we weren't threatening to walk out of the meeting at the slightest little remark.
