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ST. GEORGE — The Washington County Commission on Tuesday weighed in on Gov. Gary Herbert’s petition to allow the state to control some areas of federal forestland.
Hebert is planning to petition the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its 2001 "Roadless Rule,” which prohibits road construction and logging on lands within the National Forest System, including Dixie National Forest in Washington County, that were inventoried as roadless.
The rule was established to protect forests, but in a speech last month at the Utah Rural Summit, Herbert said it has led to overgrown and unhealthy forests filled with dead trees that are at risk of wildfires.
“It is time for us to be aggressive and proactive and say we can, with cooperation, do a better job managing these forests we have,” Herbert said. “Our forest managers, would have … the tools and the flexibility they need to improve the health of our forests and thereby reduce our forest fire risk.”
Hebert said this petition isn’t a “backdoor approach” to creating more trails for all-terrain vehicles through national forests. However, deputy county attorney Celeste Maloy, in a presentation to the County Commission Tuesday, said it may allow more recreation trails to be built through wilderness areas.
Maloy categorized the different roadless areas within Washington County based on what level of management the county would like to be allowed on those areas. She said most of the areas in the county fell into a category that would mean “new trails could be put in and some vegetation treatment could be done.”