Cache Council hears public opinion on roadless regulations

The Cache County Council collected comments from concerned constituents concerning roadless regulations in national forest land Tuesday evening. Of the nine people who gave an opinion, seven spoke against Gov. Gary Herbert’s petition to deregulate the roadless designation.

“Our governor is using forest fires as a reason to penetrate our public lands and roadless areas,” said Kari Prescott, the president of the Bridgerland district of the Backcountry Horsemen. “But the roadless area regulations already allow exceptions for wildfire management.”

Ninety percent of Utah’s wildfires in the past five years have been outside of roadless designated areas, Prescott said.

Herbert’s proposal focuses on wildfire mitigation through prescribed burns and underbrush clearing.

Utah Policy Objectives for Land Management by Utah Statesman on Scribd

The original roadless rule does allow for exceptions in the case of “imminent danger of fire” but said that “building roads into inventoried roadless areas would likely increase the chance of human-caused fires due to the increased presence of people.”

Any roads that were to be cut into the forest would have to be temporary, explained Josh Runhaar, the Cache County Development Services Director for planning and zoning. Roads would be built on an as-needed basis, mostly for forest management in relation to fire prevention, he said.  

Tires will not be hitting pavement anytime soon, as the public hearing was just to establish opinions before submitting proposals to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s office. Herbert will then submit a petition to the federal government.

Multiple complaints focused on plant and animal life.

“Anytime I mess with the dirt, Canadian thistle pops right up; I hate that stuff,” said Bryan Lundahl, owner of the Beaver Creek Lodge.  

Council Chairman David Erikson was quick to correct Lundahl’s taxonomy.

“If it were Canadian thistle, we’d be able to send it back,” he said, stressing that the invasive plant is actually called Canada thistle.

Nathan Zollinger, chairman of the Top of Utah Snowmobile Association, said his organization supports the state’s petition.

“We see all the bureaucratic red tape in the way of public access,” Zollinger said.

Runhaar said any roads built will not be open for public access.

“It will just be another tool for the forest service to use,” Runhaar said.

Runhaar said the petition would not remove the lands from roadless rule, but would relegate it to the “1C” class, making it “not prohibited” to build temporary roads.

Runhaar showed attendees the county’s suggestions for locations that will be relegated if the rule is passed.

The council will decide on how to respond to Gov. Herbert’s petition Dec. 11.

“I hope we are not just selfish of our own little backyard,” Erikson said.

—carter.moore@aggiemail.usu.edu

@carterthegrreat