Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
 

Stop poachers

Modified Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Box Elder Local Working Group

August 2001 meeting announcement

We would like to invite you to an open meeting to be held at 6:30 pm, Thursday evening August 30th, 2001 to discuss recent concerns about sage grouse in Utah, and in particular Box Elder County. The meeting will be held at the Museum Room of the Box Elder County Fairgrounds in Tremonton, Utah. The Fairgrounds are located at 400 N 1000 W. An evening Dutch Oven supper will be provided by USU Extension Service, the Jack H. Berryman Institute and the Quinney Professorship for Wildlife Conflict Management at Utah State University.

The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss what local landowners can do to help prevent sage grouse from being listed as an endangered species. Sage grouse in Utah occupy only 50 percent of their previous habitat and are one

Continued population declines in other states has prompted several environmental organizations to petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to emergency list Gunnison sage grouse found in San Juan County and other sage grouse in Washington. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has denied the emergency listing petition. The reason these petitions were denied is that landowners in the affected areas have formed working groups or coalitions to increase local ownership and involvement in the development of community

In Utah, there are 2 local landowner working groups that have been specifically formed to address sage grouse. These are the Parker Mountain Adaptive Resource Management in Wayne and Piute Counties and the San Juan County Gunnison Sage Grouse working groups. These efforts have been facilitated by the USU Extension Service and are chaired by local landowners. These efforts have been successful in increasing state and local awareness of and support for identifying and implementing sage grouse conservation measures that will benefit the species and the communities. They have made a difference.

Given the success of these efforts, the continued decline of sage grouse populations, and the increased interest of state and local governments and private citizens to become involved in species conservation planning, we are interested in hearing your thoughts about developing a local working group in Box Elder County. We will have representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and USU Extension at the meeting to hear your concerns. We hope you can make this important meeting.

We anticipate the meeting will be over by 9:00 pm. To better help us prepare enough food, we ask that you call the Box Elder County Extension office in Tremonton at 435-257-5447 to RSVP.

If you have any questions about the meeting please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Steve Holmgren, Box Elder County Commission
Peter Knudson, Utah Senate

November 2001 meeting announcement

On August 30, 2001 we held an informational meeting to discuss the possibility of establishing a local working group who would begin the process of developing a conservation plan for sage grouse in Box Elder County. There was a great showing at the meeting and many issues were discussed. There was a great deal of support for establishing such a group.

We will be holding the first meeting of the Box Elder sage grouse local working group at the Grouse Creek School on November 29th at 2:00 pm. This meeting will help us to identify all of the issues that affect sage grouse and their habitats in Box Elder County. Additionally it will help us better understand what can be done in the future to ensure the persistence of sage grouse while still addressing the community and societal values that are so prominent here.

The more input we receive from the local community, the better the product will be so please try and attend.

Thanks for your continued interest in sage grouse conservation.

Sincerely,
Lyle Holmgren

January 2001 meeting announcement

January 15, 2002

To: Box Elder Sage Grouse LWG Participants

Subject: Box Elder Sage Grouse Meeting

Dear: ,

The Box Elder LWG last met on November 29th at Grouse Creek. At that meeting there was a good discussion on sage grouse numbers and habitat conditions throughout western Box Elder County. A leadership committee was decided on to represent the varied interests of those in the county. Those individuals are Nate Packer (BLM), Kirt Enright (UDWR), Jerry Mason (Utah Wildlife Federation), and Jay Tanner (Livestock Producer). A summary of the meeting is available on the internet at: http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/sage-grouse/. The next meeting of the Box Elder LWG will be on January 31st, at 2:00 p.m. at the Snowville City Hall located on the NW corner of the four-way stop. At this meeting we will review what was discussed at the last meeting and form a plan for the future.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

  1. Review of last meeting discussions
  2. Some tools to assist with sage grouse conservation issues, Rory Reynolds (UDWR)
  3. USU-LEMA Center Mapping Effort
  4. Review of available habitat data-BLM, USFS, UDWR
  5. Plan for 2002-Lek counts, habitat data collection, etc.
  6. Draft MOU

If you would like to add anything to the agenda, please contact Lyle Holmgren at (435) 257-5447 or Joel Flory at (801) 557-0180.

Thank you for your continued interest in sage grouse conservation,

Sincerely,
Lyle Holmgren