Agency says aligning Champion Lands to 20-year plans will ease oversight of long-term leases

The Senate Natural Resources & Energy committee heard a presentation about proposed changes to the Champion Lands provision in H928.

Jason Bachelder, Fish & Wildlife Commissioner, said the 1999 law that prompted a 10-year comprehensive plan for the West Mountain Wildlife Management Area was originally intended to address concerns following a land transaction and the creation of long-term camp leases. Bachelder told the committee the department now wants to align the Champion Lands review cycle with other state-owned lands by moving from a 10-year to a 20-year management plan because "10 years comes up so quickly" and the shorter cycle proved difficult to implement.

Bachelder said the department has worked to maintain a productive relationship with current leaseholders, noting annual meetings and ongoing local staff presence, and that the change to a 20-year plan is intended to be administrative rather than to remove public input. He named Jill Joborn as a lands-and-habitats manager who regularly meets with leaseholders.

Committee members asked whether the shift would affect the existing "lifetime" leases some participants described as effectively 99-year arrangements and whether leases could be passed to heirs. Bachelder and staff said moving the plan cycle would not alter the substantive lease terms and emphasized that public outreach and hearings that accompany long-range plans would remain in place.

The committee did not take final action on H928 at this meeting and agreed to revisit the provision later in the session.