ST. GEORGE – Officials are finishing up a countywide land use plan and are asking for residents’ unique knowledge of different aspects of life in Washington County to make it better.
The various and diverse sections of the plan range from agriculture to law enforcement to wilderness. (see full list below)
“What we’re trying to accomplish with the resource management plan is to establish a countywide plan that protects our watersheds and our values and our uses out on the land in a responsible way,” Washington County Commissioner Victor Iverson said.
The draft versions of the county resource management plan is available for viewing on the county website.
“And also, what it will allow is that as federal planning processes go forward, according to Federal Land Policy Management Act, or FLPMA, it’s required of them to coordinate with local resource plans to the maximum ability,” Iverson said.
“But unless a county is involved and has an actual resource management plan – it’s been impossible to coordinate local values if you don’t have a plan.”
Citizens have “unique familiarity” with areas of the county, Iverson said, and officials are asking for help in the form of comments, feedback and opinions.
“So what I really hope is that they’ll take a look at what we’ve put in (the draft plan), in regards to the areas they’re most familiar with, and give us any sort of unique feedback that they might have,” Iverson said.
The Washington County plan will become part of the larger state plan because all Utah counties are in the process of creating similar documents.
Deputy Washington County Attorney Celeste Maloy is writing the land use plan and has been asking for input since the first draft sections became available in August 2016.
Read more: County seeks ‘maximum public input’ for resource management plan
“I am here to ask the public to please go read those (sections) and give me feedback,” Maloy said at a County Commission meeting Tuesday, adding that the more feedback she receives, the better the final product will be.
“The idea is for the plan to be a tool for the county to use in long-term planning and in partnering with land management agencies when they are doing their planning,” Maloy said. “More public input will make it a more useful tool for both of those purposes.”
The 26 sections of the draft plans available for viewing and commenting include:
- Agriculture
- Air quality
- Cultural, historic, geological, paleonontological
- Ditches and canals
- Economics
- Fire management
- Fisheries
- Floodplains and river terraces
- Forest management
- Irrigation
- Land access
- Land use
- Law enforcement
- Livestock and grazing
- Mining and minerals
- Noxious weeds
- Predator control
- Recreation and tourism
- Riparian
- Threatened and endangered species
- Water quality and hydrology
- Water rights
- Wetlands
- Wild and scenic rivers
- Wilderness
- Wildlife
All of the above sections are available to download on the Washington County website.
The plan is open for comment until mid-July and will be adopted at a County Commission meeting July 18, Maloy said.
“Anybody who wants to talk to me about it or give me their opinion can call me at the County Attorney’s Office or send me an email,” she said.
To comment on the plans, contact Maloy by phone at 435-986-2635 or by email at [email protected]. There is also a link for commenting on the front page of the county website.
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Aww Hell, just bulldoze Zion down as long as we can build a home on the land and make a profit….$$$$ is all that matters….and even if you waste your time filling out the 26 sections of questions? They ( the Officials who rule over us ) won’t give a damn what you put down unless it works in their favor of over building this once great land