Hermosa Creek Workgroup Meeting 12 Summary March 3 2009 Draft

Home Browse Search

attract more users and further degrade the area's resources. It was noted that a type of advisory group that might be comparable to that proposed by John is the Bureau of Land Management's ( "BLM's ") Resource Advisory Committees ( "RACs "). There are three such RACs in Colorado providing advice to the BLM on land management. Mark Stiles, manager of the San Juan Public Lands Center ( "SJPLC "), said the Forest Service also has such advisory groups and has broad authority to establish advisory councils under federal legislation. Mark also said a federal designation does not preclude local involvement. Jeff said he does not think he has ever worked on an area that received a federal designation that does not have a local advisory council. Usually the legislation granting the designation specifies how to set up the council and who will be included. The establishment of the council is especially important for more flexible designations such as national conservation areas ( "NCAs "), natural resource areas, and national scenic areas ( "NSAs "). Jeff said NCAs are usually managed by the BLM, NSAs by the Forest Service, but the concept is the same. La Plata County Commissioner Wally White, a current member of the Southwest RAC, said he believes the RACs have been very successful. Ed Zink, a former member, said they are excellent when they have a specific issue to work on and a deadline; when they don't, they tend to make up things to do. Ed said if such an advisory group is set up for the Hermosa Creek area, once it is established, it should meet once every three years, not twice a year. Ed suggested utilizing Mark Stiles' list of hierarchies, presented at the December 2008 meeting. Maybe the Hermosa area's protections should be as low (local) as possible on the ladder, but certain qualities, such as roadlessness, should be protected at the top of the ladder (greater permanency, less local control). Ed said flexibility is important. For example, 25 years ago Ed's father placed an agricultural conservation easement on most of his ranch, which is now owned by Ed. Over the years, there came to be increased interest in preserving wetlands, so Ed proposed creating some wetlands, and found they might not be allowed under an agricultural easement. However, because the easement was managed mostly at a local level, he was able to get permission to make a change. Ed suggested the Hermosa area's water should be protected at the state level, grazing and other on- the - ground uses at the local level, and the land mass itself at the federal level. Chuck Wanner of the San Juan Citizens Alliance said the watershed needs to be managed as a unit. The different levels of protection need to be under one coordinating umbrella to ensure they don't conflict. There was discussion on whether this "umbrella" is needed. Some said we need the umbrella to provide a mandate for future generations. The No. 1 priority and most permanently protected aspect should be the watershed. We need to think