County Commissioners Advocate in Washington: Days 1 & 2

Editor's note: Not only are radical Utah ranchers going after wild horses, they're taking on prairie dogs as well! Apparently, they won't stop until only their cattle and sheep are left on our westernpublic lands.

WASHINGTON D.C.– Garfield, Beaver, and Iron County Commissioners traveled to Washington D.C. to discuss public land issues and present the“Constitution Jurisdiction Resolution”passed by the Iron County Commission.

The resolution can be read in itsentirety here.

The Commissioners first met with Daniel Ashe, the director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, to discuss prairie dog issues, specifically regarding relief for private property owners.

“It went really well,” Iron County Commissioner David Miller said. Different options were discussed to convince the service that utilizing more local management authority can solve this problem, Miller said. “That’s what we’ve already been doing,” he said, “we’ve already been proving that we’re getting this problem dealt with.”

Prairie dog issues have been addressed and dealt with through local authorities, asprairie dog fencinghas been installed at the Cedar City Cemetery and will be installed at Cedar Ridge Golf Course.

County commissioners also met with U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, and U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart. The commissioner contingent discussed concerns about what they called a militaristic approach to law enforcement in relation topublic lands, Miller said, and how the jurisdiction of local law enforcement is disregarded.

“Citizens of the community in which they are assigned to work don’t have any say or consideration,” Miller said, “and it’s unacceptable.”

Wild horses were also talked about, he said, but the main meeting on that issue will take place Wednesday when commissioners meet with head officials of the Bureau of Land Management. The main concern regarding wild horses is how to reach appropriate management levels.

“It’s going to be a highly tenuous discussion,” Miller said.

Originally Posted By St. George News

Read about Day 2 here.