SWEETWATER COUNTY – Time is running out for the county when it comes to submitting its comments for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Rock Springs Resource Management Plan.
With the deadline set for Wednesday, the Sweetwater County commissioners will review the county’s comments during their meeting Tuesday morning. The review is scheduled to take place at 11:30 a.m. with the county’s Land Use Director, Eric Bingham.
The comment letter is 26 pages long and consists of several allegations, including that the BLM had failed to honor and comply with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act mandates for the organization to coordinate with state and local governments, as well as a claim the bureau’s visual resource management classifications fail to consider underlying resource allocations. The county’s comment letter also claims the BLM made two procedural errors and seeks corrections to the BLM’s analysis of areas proposed to be designated Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.
Overall, the county requests the BLM revise the draft Environmental Impact Statement and its preferred alternative selection in coordination with cooperating agencies between now and when the bureau issues its final Environmental Impact Statement.
Also on the agenda is a discussion regarding Southwest Wyoming Off-road Trails (SWOT). The organization is seeking to link Uinta and Sweetwater Counties, as well as the rest of the state, with off-road trails. According to meeting documents, both the Wyoming Department of Transportation and the Wyoming State Trails Office have been involved with the project. The county has received several letters of support and municipal ordinances supporting the SWOT project.
The commissioners will also determine if they will staff several seasonal positions. There are requests to hire six seasonal employees for the parks and recreation department, three seasonal workers for the road and bridge department, and a request to restaff a vacant position in the facilities maintenance department.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Sweetwater County Courthouse in Green River. A full agenda and meeting packet can be found here. The meeting can also be viewed on the county’s YouTube channel.
