Ferron Blaze Burns 5,150 Acres

The fire in the Jungle of Ferron Mountain jumped from a prescribed fire when it was started on June 28 to a wildfire by the middle of last week as high temperatures and low humidity fueled the fire’s course through the spruce beetle ravaged forest.

Forest Service personnel started the fire in hopes of burning a 2,000 acre area of beetle killed trees within the Ferron Creek drainage between Willow Lake and Ferron Reservoir. The Forest Service has been wanting to burn this area for years and attempted a prescribed burn in the same area last year with only limited success.

This year the prescribed burn was started later in the year and the hotter temperatures and low moisture added fuel to the fire.

Originally the prescribed burn was expected to be complete by July 3, but the hot conditions and wind allowed the fire to spread outside its prescribed area and it was termed a wild fire by July 4.

Even though the fire had spread to acres of the forest not in the original plans to be burned, it was still burning areas of the forest that had been killed by the spruce beetle, so was burning right where it was wanted, according to Forest Service representatives.

According to Forest Service reports, the 160 personnel, including support personnel, involved in the operation, were making good progress on the Jungle fire. Fire fighters continued to patrol and monitor the fire lines for hot spots and smoke and structure protection efforts were in place for Ferron summer homes.

While the fire is burning Ferron Canyon Road, the forest development road from Lizard Lake Road to Duck Fork Road are closed. Willow Lake Campground and Recreation Area, Buck Flat, Shoemaker ATV, Singleton Flat, Dairy Trail #117 and McEwan Flat roads and trails are also closed. There is also no camping on the east side of Duck Fork Road from Ferron Reservoir to Woodtick Point. The South Side Road is open to high clearance four wheel drive vehicles only, not towing trailers.

By July 8 the fire was 85 percent contained and had spread to encompass 5,150 acres. The Forest Service projected that the fire would be fully contained by July 10.

County Changes Land Plans

James L. Davis

Emery County added an addendum to its general plan following a public hearing on July 3 in an effort to make its voice heard as the Bureau of Land Management nears completion of a new Resource Management Plan.

As the new RMP neared completion a lawsuit was filed in federal court by the Utah Wilderness Coalition, which stated that the BLM had not sufficiently addressed the management of “lands with wilderness characteristics or lands likely to have wilderness characteristics.”

According to Ray Petersen, Emery County Public Lands Administrator, the two land classifications came about through two different processes.

“In the mid-90s Secretary of the Interior Babbit basically told the BLM that they hadn’t identified all of the wilderness quality lands in the Statewide Wilderness Inventory of 1990, which produced the Wilderness Study Areas that we’ve lived with since, and that they should re-inventory,” Petersen said.

BLM did its re-inventory and found millions of more acres with “wilderness characteristics.” According to Petersen at about the same time the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance began a “citizens inventory”

“SUWA and UWC have been submitting a couple of citizen proposed wilderness areas a year for the past 16-17 years. At some point the BLM actually stated that these proposed areas are likely to contain wilderness characteristics and so were referred to as lands likely to have wilderness characteristics,” Petersen said.

In the suit the judge ruled that the BLM had not sufficiently evaluated how or if they would manage for lands that have or are likely to have wilderness characteristics. The judge ordered the BLM to address the potential in its RMP, which could result in the lands being managed as if they were wilderness.

According to Mike McCandless, Emery County Planning and Zoning Commission, who helped develop the addendum to the general plan, more than 60 percent of the land in Emery County would be managed as wilderness if the BLM developed the RMP to consider the land as potentially worthy of wilderness designation.

County leadership believes that the process that produced the wilderness characteristics land is not only flawed, but illegal.

“BLM had already conducted an inventory and produced a full blown environmental impact statement in 1990 which should be the final, guiding document concerning wilderness areas,” Petersen said.

The decision of the county to add an addendum to its general plan is a result of the fact that it wants its position considered by the BLM when the RMP is finalized. Under the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976, the federal government must recognize local land use plans and be as consistent as possible with those plans.

In addressing that issue the county went area by area, resource by resource and stated what the county’s position is. By legally adopting the position as part of its county plan, the BLM must consider it.

“We aren’t trying to tell the federal government how to manage the lands, we’re just saying here’s our plan, our vision to consider,” McCandless said.

The BLM has been receptive to the county’s ideas and McCandless indicated that his perspective of the BLM is that they want both sides to submit their ideas so they can lead to a decision.

The final RMP is a long time in coming and McCandless said the county is eager for the BLM to make a decision.

“We want the RMP to be done. We want a decision made so we know what the management will be. We’re just trying to give them the tools to make a good decision.”

State Pressures County to Raise Lot Values

James L. Davis

Emery County is resisting a push by the state of Utah to increase lot values in the cities of the county by as much as 33 percent, which would cause an increase in the taxes paid by property owners of vacant lots.

Home values have already raised by 18 percent for this year to bring the county in line with what homes were selling for in the county and the push by the state to raise lot values is in an effort to bring lot values in line with the reality of what lots are selling for in Emery County cities.

Emery County Assessor Kris Bell addressed the lot value issue during the July 3 meeting of the Emery County Commission. Bell said she was able to hold the increase off for this year, but the county would have to decide on an increase rate by May of 2008 or the state would impose an increase of its own and it could be as high as 33 percent.

The reason for the push for a lot value increase stems from the fact that lot values assessed in the county are supposed to be set at 100 percent of market value, which was a problem for the housing values as well as lot values.

“We’re supposed to be at 100 percent for sales values, but if we’re at 90 percent we’re OK, but this year for home values we had to raise the values 18 percent just to get to the 90 percent range,” Bell said.

That same problem exists for lot values in Emery County cities with property assessed at far less than what property can and is being sold for.

“If we have property valued at $80,000 and it sells for $120,000 then we have a problem with our property values,” Bell said.

“The state is saying a lot has to be worth what it is worth,” said Commissioner Gary Kofford. “The state is saying you have to get in line.”

City lots are hard to find in most Emery County cities and because of that buyers are willing to pay a good price for them, which impacts the assessed values of lots. The same is true for homes as people move into the county looking for a home or property to build on.

By convincing the state to wait until 2008 for the lot value increase, Bell hopes to give the county time to convince the state for a lower percent of increase on lot values. The minimum the county will probably be able to get by with will be 18 percent.

“If we don’t do the minimum then they’ll come in and do the maximum,” she said.

During the next year Bell said her office will be looking at every piece of ground to be able to come up with minimum values.

“We’re trying to find a happy medium so we can talk to the state and tell them our point of view,” Bell said.

At the urging of the commission, Bell made several phone calls to the state requesting a meeting with them to discuss the county’s point of view and request from the state that if it is going to force the county to raise its lot values to be more in line with the prices paid for property then the state should be equally diligent when looking at centrally assessed property values.

Contestants Gather for Heritage Idol Competition

Josie Luke

Even without Simon, Paula or Randy, the Heritage Days Idol Contest was part of the kick-off of to the annual Huntington Heritage Days Celebration that helped to bring out an estimated crowd of more than 3,000. On July 3, 13 competitors competed in three categories to find out who would hold the title.

The winners in the 12 and under age group were T.J. Hill and Jacie Lyn Shakespeare. In the 13 to 18 age group, the winner was Scotty Phillips and in the 18 and over age group, the winner was Clerece Chidester.

The participants competed for many different reasons. Mary Hansen, who was in the 12 and under age group said that her aunt had encouraged her to do it. “She heard me in the car and said I should,” said Hansen.

For Scotty Phillips, his intention was only to perform. He had won the competition before, but he ended up in the competition again and winning was just a bonus. Clerece Chidester has been performing for years. She said that she had been saying for years that she was going to do it, but this year she finally did. She revealed that as she has had children performing has been harder for her. “It takes more and more for me to get up in front of people,” she said.

The competition began with the seven acts of the 12 and under age group. There was Trent Jorgensen and Friends singing, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” followed by Mary Hansen singing, “Only Hope”; Rachael Hansen singing, “Kiss the Girl”; T.J. Hill on the piano with “Lady Liberty”; Martha Peterson singing, “One Voice”; Monique Bowman singing her rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and Jacie Lyn Shakespeare singing “God Bless America”.

The age 13 to 18 year old category included three acts, with Scotty Phillips singing, “Let’s Stay Together”; Tasha Larsen singing, “Inside Your Heaven” and Courtney Sitterud singing, “Big Deal”.

In the 18 and over group, there were also three acts, with Chelsea Killian singing, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”; Clerece Chidester singing, “10,000 Angels” and Zcheenzay Kim singing, “I believe I can Fly.

Nine of the acts made it into round two of the competition where they were given another opportunity to perform. They were: T.J. Hill playing “Piano Man;” Trent Jorgensen and Friends singing, “ the ABCs;” Mary Hansen singing, “Keep Holding On;” Martha Peterson singing, “There’s a Hero;” Jacie Lyn Shakespeare singing the National Anthem; Rachael Hansen singing, “Keep Holding On;” Scotty Phillips singing, “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word;” Chelsea Killian singing, “Walkin’ After Midnight” and Clerece Chidester singing “Crazy.”

The competition was hosted by Al Shakespeare and was organized by Debbie Richards. The event is held annually and many of the competitors sign up the day of the event. The past two years have both drawn many participants, who compete for the title and a cash prize.