Emery County Public Lands Council accepts minutes, hears agency reports on BLM planning, wildlife monitoring and invasive‑species work

The Emery County Public Lands Council approved last month’s minutes and spent most of its meeting receiving reports from federal and state land‑management agencies, council members said.

Chair (unnamed) opened the meeting and invited corrections to the minutes; member speaker 5 moved to accept them and speaker 6 seconded. The chair announced four council seats are open and that applications are due Oct. 5 at 5 p.m. on the county volunteer form.

The council heard that BLM Price Field Office staff were unable to attend because they are finalizing the travel management plan (TMP). The chair said the TMP remains on schedule for completion "by the end of this year," and that BLM staff (Kyle) offered to receive questions by text and follow up. Members asked staff to press the BLM about a Millside land‑exchange/transfer and to probe field‑office timelines.

A Division of Oil, Gas and Mining representative told the council the agency is seeking primacy over Class VI wells for carbon sequestration, is holding public open houses (Price on Oct. 15 at 6 p.m., at the Citco building), and is drafting water‑recycle rules to allow produced water to be reused in oil‑and‑gas operations rather than relying on culinary water. The representative said pollution‑control rules and an electronic forms system are being implemented and that a Carbon Emery Collaborative meeting is scheduled for Dec. 11. "We're in the process of doing that right now," the representative said of the Class VI work.

Division of Wildlife staff described gill‑netting and stream‑sampling events (Oct. 4 at Schofield; Oct. 10 at Joe’s Valley), a youth pheasant hunt on Oct. 26 at Huntington Game Farm (limited spots via Eventbrite), and chronic wasting disease (CWD) monitoring through lymph‑node sampling at check stations. Staff also outlined multi‑year crane tracking using GPS collars to determine population affiliations and whether a local hunt could be established.

Forest Service Manti‑La Sal staff reported ongoing logging, trail work and prescribed burning plans and said they completed a NEPA decision document for a South Farren road reroute but still need funding to build the reroute. The Forest Service representative warned of a hiring freeze on seasonal employees for the coming year, saying the agency is "in a budget crunch" and that services such as campground hosts and weed crews could be reduced. Staff said they will seek temporary solutions and partners to maintain service levels.

State Parks updates included winterization of campgrounds and ongoing aquatic invasive‑species (AIS) monitoring. A State boating/AIS representative said monthly testing for quagga mussel DNA continues, containment remains focused on Lake Powell, and staffed cleaning facilities and dip/tip tanks are being used. The representative described a short online AIS awareness course and an additional AIS sticker/fee for motorized watercraft tied to funding rules.

County members also received a planning‑office introduction: Nicole Nelson was introduced as PLIPCO’s new planning and program manager and said she will work on county resource‑management plans.

The council received a water‑year report showing generally healthy reservoir levels (Cleveland 60%, Huntington North 71%, Joe’s Valley 75%, Millside 51%, Huntington 64%, Electric Lake 82%, Miller Flat 63%) and closed the meeting with no public comment.

The only formal action recorded in the transcript was the motion to accept the prior meeting’s minutes, which was moved (speaker 5), seconded (speaker 6) and acknowledged by the chair; no roll‑call vote tally by name was recorded in the transcript. The meeting was then adjourned.