1.  Welcome, Introductions, Minutes - Howard Johnson, Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. and welcomed everyone to the meeting.  He introduced Therese Meyer to the group.  Roger Banner read the minutes of the last meeting and they were approved as amended.   

2.  Nomination - Roger Banner
Roger Banner nominated Therese Meyer, SCD board member, to the UGN Board of Trustees.  Jake Jacobson seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

3.   Report - Bill Hopkin   
Appeals - Requests by Western Watershed Project (WWP) for stays of grazing in Box Elder and Tooele Counties have been denied.  The Rich County appeals and requests for stays have not been addressed to date.
Proposal - The Rich County grazing permit holders have been encouraged to organize to deal with the WWP appeals in Rich County.  A county-wide Coordinated Resource Management Plan (CRM) is being proposed to serve as a focal point, show success, and prove to critics that improved management has been implemented.  Basically, the effort is for local people to take responsibility for the health of the resources in the county.  The plan is to have Grant Stumbaugh, Dennis Sun, Ron Michaeli, John Kimball, Booth Wallentine and Cary Peterson come to Rich County and address the grazing permittees about CRM, how it might be done, and why it is needed.

Roger Banner added to the discussion by relating a recent visit with Karen Budd-Falen, attorney for many Utah ranchers.  He indicated that he saw the extent of the contribution by Synergy Resource Solutions, Inc. and felt that it provided an important and a well-done element of the ranchers' case.  Karen was also concerned tht the inadequacies of the BLM EAs under appeal by WWP are very worrisome for the ranchers' case and that any effort that can be made with BLM Director Kathleen Clark to get BLM to withdraw and redo EAs should be made.  She also told of a case in Washington, D.C. that threatens to give BLM local managers authority to approve or disapprove transfer of grazing permits rather than basing transfers on established base property and other requirements as set forth in legislation.  This would open permit transfers to the necessity of meeting NEPA requirements for EAs and appeals by the public.

Roger Banner made a motion that UGN:
1.  support the concept of initiating a CRM effort in Rich County with involvement of Box Elder and Tooele Counties if they so desire,
2.  support financially up to $1,000 the visit of CRM proponents from Wyoming to explain the value of CRM, and
3.  support subsequent CRM education and training financially should the opportunity arise.

Larry Ellicott seconded the motion and it passed following dicussion.

Bruce Bunting made a motion that UGN write letters to the Governor and Attorney General encouraging their involvement in the support of Utah ranchers in defending their grazing permits on Public Land, both on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and across the State.  Wayne Urie seconded the motion and the motion passed following discussion.  Discussion identified that the long term ecological and economic impacts of retiring permits and elimination of grazing on public land should be pointed out.  The group indicated that a letter should also be sent from UGN to BLM Director Kathleen Clark relative to local concerns on the current issues noted above.

4.    Report - Gordon Younker
Gordon presented information on supporting a grazing land resource specialist.  He also presented information on maintaining sustainable grazing permits on Public Land.      

Bill Hopkin made a motion that UGN support and encourage the UACD to pursue and further develop a proposal for a UGN staff person to support the mission and purposes of the Utah Grazinglands Network.  Jake Jacobson seconded the motion and it passed.
 
Bill Hopkin also made a motion that the UGN partner organization representatives seek a 3-year financial and philosophical commitment from their organizations for the proposed UGN staff position.  Bruce Bunting seconded the motion and it passed.  Results are to be forwarded to Gordon.

5.    Report - Ken Mills      
Ken reported on a grant opportunity with the State Ag Marketing.  The deadline for the application is April 1st.  He is submitting for some money to support the Exec Dir and needs to have support statements from the partners to complete the application.  He also reported that the UGN has a poster opportunity at the Hogel Zoo Earth Day and we agreed to put up the poster that Jake has.  There will have to be some help in manning the booth and Ken, Bill H, and others agreed to help.  The date for this is April 20th a Saturday.  The tour in July that we want to join in with the cattle growers is still a go and Ken will work with Brent Tanner on this.  There then was a long discussion about trend monitoring on rangeland and the need for a training session or materials to hand out.

6.    Report - Jake Jacobson - Grazing in Urban Boundaries for Fire Control - Reno Con.
Jake reported on several instances where communities have paid grazers to bring in their animals and graze the vegetation above the town etc. for removal of the fuels and reduce fire danger.  He would like for UGN demo committee to look into sponsoring a project that shows the possibilities of this.   

7.    Report - Larry Ellicott for Meg Bishop    
Larry read the items from the E-Mail report that Meg sent to him and Roger.
 
Meg's Message:

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make your meeting tomorrow.  I would, however, appreciate receiving minutes and notices of upcoming meetings.  Also, please let me know if you have any specific needs that I can help out with.  I'll be happy to work with Larry on providing the assistance you need.

I'd also like to provide you with an update on current GLCI activities and other items effecting grazing lands:

.  The 2nd National Conference on Grazing Lands is scheduled for Dec. 7-10, 2003 in Nashville.  Committees are now in the planning stages.  The Program Committee will be meeting again in Washington DC next week during the Spring National GLCI Committee meeting.

.  NRCS - GLCI budget earmark for 2002 fiscal year is $21.5 million - an increase of $3.5 milion.  It was one of the few conservation programs that was increased.  Some conservation programs were not funded - WRP, WHIP, FIP

.  CPGL (Conservation of Private Lands Act) has been reauthorized.  The PROPOSED funding level is $60 million - this is only a request and it doesn't look hopeful.  If funded, it would be real dollars (line item) available for additional GLCI work.

.  Grassland Reserve Program is set to go.  Maximum of 2 million acres nation-wide.

.  The House Interior Appropriations Committee contains provisions that direct the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to direct the NRCS, USFS, and BLM to develop a standard national rangeland classification system, conduct soils surveys on public and private rangelands, and conduct a coordinated National Cooperative Rangeland Survey on both public and private lands.  Presently, the PROPOSED funding level is at $50 million for 5 years.

.  We are presently working on several strategies to enhance communications between the National Steering Committee and State Committees.  These include:  1) building up the National GLCI web site to provide more in-depth information on GLCI activities in other states/regions and to enhance linkages to sites that offer publications, research, etc. pertinent to grazing lands.  2) conduct scheduled regional teleconferences with state GLCI contacts and National Steering Committee representatives to share information and improve networking.

.  On a regional level, I am working with several states to build more effective GLCI networks through the use of various tools, including:  1) strengthening relationship with RC&Ds to assist with coordination, administration and acquisition of funding; 2) encourage the inclusion of conservation groups and more effective use of agencies and CRM agreements to broaden the base of support for GLCI activities and interests that include public lands; 3) develop model projects (through the use of reimburseables, etc) to address specific concerns, such as endangered species, etc.

As you know, the National Steering Committee is having its Spring meeting in Washington D.C. March 3-5 next week.  If you have any concerns or items of interest, please pass them along to Larry or Tim Munns.  Thanks for your time.

8.  Report - Jerry Chatterton
Jerry reported that the web site has not had any input for some time.  He has not received any minutes for awhile and requested to be put back on the email list for these.  Therese has agreed to help with other information on the web site.                     

9.  Appoint a new Chair
Bill convinced Howard that we needed him particularly now that we are beginning to turn a corner and make some progress.  Howard agreed to stay on for a short time longer.   

10.  Other

Bruce Bunting up discussion about the retired permits in the Grand Staircase Escalante NM and there was more discussion on this.

Larry mentioned the EQIP signups in the Thistle Creek Watershed announcement that Roger brought.

Darrell Johnson has been requested to attend the meeting of the CRM group in Deep Creek by the Shambit SCD and the board agreed that he should attend as a representative of the UGN.

The Next Meeting of the UGN will be in Kanab on 2 April 02 at 4 pm in the Commission Chambers.
Tyce Palmer will make the arrangements for the location and let Roger know the directions for the Chambers.  Bill and Larry will not be able to be there, but it was decided to go and look at Bruce's project since many will be at the UT/AZ Range and Livestock Workshop and Tour, April 2-4, 2002.

   
Please send notices of events and calendar items to Jerry Chatterton to be placed on our web page. His email address is: njchatt@cc.usu.edu.