Meeteetse
Conservation District
LAND USE MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCE CONSERVATION PLAN
Goals, Actions, and Policy Summary
The collaborative planning process used by the Meeteetse
Conservation District (MCD) relied on the trust and acceptance by the community
and open lines of communication between all affected groups and individuals.
The goals and actions, and MCD policies were derived from the public
participation planning process, thereby allowing control of the MCD resources
guided by the visions of the Community.
The collaboratively developed vision statement that
provides the foundation for the goals, actions, and policies for the MCD is:
Quality
of Life Values - A clean and healthy environment that allows a peaceful
and secure lifestyle, and culture that develops and enhances community pride,
with the opportunity to make our own choices both now and in the
future.
Forms
of Production - Continue to provide, promote or encourage the motive and
means
for the optimum production of resources to enhance economic opportunity
and the quality of life for our community.
Future
Resource Base - Through careful local planning, control succession by the
coordinated management of the water cycle, mineral cycle, and
energy flow, to provide for a sustainable and optimum landscape and which
in turn will provide the wealth, values and other needs of our community, within
the constraints of the United States and Wyoming Constitution, and the strict
framework of the Bill of Rights.
The goals and
planned actions of the MCD focus on MCD operations, water quality, tree
planting, wildlife habitat, range management, and government interaction and
cooperation. A holistic resource
management concept/model has been adopted by the MCD Board of Supervisors (see
APPENDIX) and will be used to guide the MCD in its future planning, programs and
projects.
District Operations
Goals: The MCD is experiencing
rapid changes driven by a variety of environmental issues and concerns.
The MCD must be intrinsically involved in addressing these issues and
concerns by providing technical assistance and expertise at the local level.
The MCD is committed to implementing conservation and natural resource
programs on the ground.
Our
goal is to heed local input and involvement in developing programs, to address
natural resource management concerns, and to implement programs that improve or
enhance the environment within the MCD.
District Operations
Actions:
o
Educate and provide technical assistance to Cooperators, specific
producers and the young of the MCD through existing educational forums, if
applicable, regarding new innovations and government agency programs regarding
natural resource conservation;
o
Cooperate and coordinate wetland and floodplain planning and
program administration with local, state and federal cooperating entities;
o
Support and assist weed
and pest best management practices;
o
Review and comment on unincorporated area land use and subdivision
proposals; review and comment on reclamation plans;
o
Provide technical assistance to Cooperators for water rights and
permits.
Water Quality Goals:
The MCD is committed to improving the water quality of groundwater,
streams, rivers, reservoirs and lakes within the boundaries of the MCD.
Wyoming is a headwater state supplying water resources to neighboring
states, yet we are deeply concerned about the health of our families, livestock
and wildlife, as well as about protecting our tax base and improving our
property values. The MCD believes
that a voluntary approach to conservation and resource management including the
qualities of education, coordination, leadership, team building and trust will
encourage greater participation by landowners and Cooperators.
By
using the voluntary approach, the MCD will coordinate and achieve the goal of an
effective water quality improvement program.
Water Quality
Actions:
o
Provide technical assistance for publicly sponsored watershed
improvement programs and/or private proposals, and assist/lead in the
implementation of the Non-Point Pollution Reduction program in the MCD;
o
Provide the resources and training for the on-going monitoring of
watershed water quality.
Tree Planting
Program Goals:
The
MCD's continuing goal is to sponsor a tree program to help alleviate problems
caused by erosion and evaporation to help control soil erosion, energy loss and
soil moisture content.
Tree Planting
Program Actions:
o
Provide Cooperators with the knowledge and benefits of tree
propagation and maintenance through existing educational forums;
o
Assist in the development of alternative irrigation systems for
tree growth;
o
Assist the Cooperators in the county-wide USDA sponsored Tree
Planting Program in the MCD.
Public and Private
Wildlife Habitat Goals: The MCD
recognizes the importance of improving or enhancing wildlife habitat to support
healthy wildlife populations. Wildlife
plays a vital role in our ecosystem and our local economy.
The MCD cooperates with local landowners, government agencies, and
organizations in maintaining, improving and enhancing wildlife habitat in
conjunction and complementary with the other resources of the MCD.
The
continuing goal of the MCD is to incorporate wildlife habitat concerns and
proper wildlife habitat management in the planning, programs and projects of the
MCD.
Public and Private
Wildlife Habitat Actions:
o
Carry-out educational programs for the Cooperators of the District
on wildlife management;
o
Coordinate with Cooperators and government agencies in wildlife
habitat improvement and maintenance on the privately held property in the MCD.
Private and Public
Range Management Goals: The MCD
supports best management practices on all rangelands in order to protect against
soil loss; advancing, enhancing, and improving succession, biodiversity, ground
cover, mineral cycle, water cycle and energy flow.
The
goal of the MCD is to provide range management education, training, services and
information to all land managers in the MCD.
Private and Public
Range Management Actions:
o
Establish the framework for grazing programs for Cooperators with
the help of USDA, Soil Conservation Service technical assistance;
o
Enable interested Cooperators in the adoption and improvement of
techniques for best management practices and assist in the dissemination of the
holistic resource management concept.
Government Agency
Interaction and Coordination Goals: The
MCD continues to foster the partnership between the MCD's Cooperators and
landowners, and local, state, and federal government agencies in creating and
implementing programs and policies that pertain to the soil and water
conservation, and the economic stability of the MCD.
The
goal of the MCD is to continue to represent local interests in the planning and
implementation efforts of local, state, and federal government agencies within
the boundaries of the MCD.
Government Agency
Interaction and Coordination Actions:
o
Educate the interested MCD's Cooperators in the coordinated
resource management concept;
o
Facilitate and encourage public input and interest through
meetings on local, state and federal agency regulation and proposed revisions;
o
Involve and inform Cooperators on all changes in Federal, State
and Local natural resource management laws and regulatory devices.
Meeteetse
Conservation District Operating Policy:
The MCD Board of Supervisors have [sic] adopted the following policies to
assist in the implementation of the described goals and actions, and the
operation of the MCD:
a)
Cooperate and coordinate with Cooperators, residents of the MCD
and public institutions/government agencies in the conservation of the water,
soil, plants, and wildlife resources in the MCD.
b)
Encourage, and if feasible, assist Cooperators in the MCD to
create and complete localized and coordinated resource management plans as a
foundation for the conservation of the water/natural resources in the MCD's
watersheds.
c)
Provide and foster provision of technical and material assistance
in an equitable fashion to the Cooperators of the MCD.
d)
Conduct their [sic] statutory responsibilities in their entirety,
in cooperation and with the trust and acceptance of the MCD's Cooperators.
e)
Review, study, and comment, when possible, on all local, state and
federal legislation, rules and regulations promulgated or revised that may have
an effect on the MCD and it’s [sic] cooperators.
f)
Cooperate and coordinate with the private individuals and groups,
along with local, state, and federal governmental agencies in order to pursue
the continued resource management and enhancement in the watersheds of the MCD
and employ holistic resource management concepts and ideas in conjunction with
existing or adopted coordinated resource management practices.
g)
Use a holistic resource management model to justify, evaluate and
monitor the projects and programs of the MCD prior to, during and after their
completion. The holistic resource
management model follows the basic precept of "PLAN, MONITOR, CONTROL, AND
REPLAN".
o
The Board of Supervisors will use the tests for sustainability and
management guidelines defined in the holistic resource management model (see
APPENDIX).
o
The MCD Board of Supervisors will cause and sponsor the continuing
inventory of the natural resource base of the land within the boundaries of the
MCD, and create information sources to share with the Cooperators of the MCD in
their on-ground management.
o
The Board of Supervisors will define the ecosystem processes of
energy flow, water cycles, mineral cycles and succession, as well as the
"tools" - human creativity and money & labor (rest, fire, grazing,
animal impact, living organisms, and technology) that can be used to help
programs and projects of the MCD.
o
The group planning sessions held by the MCD also provided the
public's idea of the "whole" - (people, wealth and land) that the MCD
will use in the model.
APPENDIX A
Group planning resulted in the
following input from the attendees in relation to the WHOLE of the community -
People, Money & Wealth, and Land:
People: Religious
leaders; People living in town/out of town; School faculty and staff; on-ground
resource managers; County Commissioners; Town Council; Town and County Attorney;
the Elderly and Youth of the community; Law enforcement personnel; USFS/BLM
personnel at all levels; those who would live here if they could; State
government personnel- Game and Fish, DEQ, Farm Loan Board; Developers; snow
birds; Business people; Service organizations; Recreationists; Hunters
Money & Wealth:
Education-Knowledge; Ambition; Culture; Rural livestock; Values; Tax Base; Local
money - School; A willing person to learn; A willing person to work; Scenery;
Wildlife - Clean Air and Water; Natural Resources; Minerals; Agriculture;
Service Industry; Retirement money; Recreation- Hunting/Fishing/Tourism;
Construction - Highway/ Rehabilitation; Room for Growth; Community
infrastructure; Federal moneys - salaries, PILT; State moneys - Grants and Loans
Land: Soil; Aesthetics
- Views and Vistas; Clean Air and Water; Grass, Forbs, Shrubs, and Trees; Snow -
Recreation (winter); Open space; Livestock and Wildlife and Fish; Hay, Legumes
and Small Grains; Oil and Natural Gas (assessed at 100% of value makes up over
80% of Community's assessed valuation); Hard and Soft Rock Minerals -
Gold/Silver( mostly unavailable at present), Copper/Molybdenum - regulated by
Federal Mining Regulations, Coal/Gravel - state and county regulated;
Geologic/Paleontology - Finds and Exploration; Solar, Wind and Water Energy;
Reservoirs - Recreation and Wildlife/Fish; Yellowstone spillover
The relationships of the Holistic
Resource Management model are as follows:
The Vision Statement (for Quality
of Life Values, Forms of Production and Future Resource Base) forms a GOAL.
That GOAL reflects the what the community wants from our ecosystem, what
the community needs to be generated from the ecosystem in order to bring about
the Quality of Life Values sought by the community, and a description of the
future landscape along with the four elements of the Ecosystem Processes (water
cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow, and succession) that sustain the Forms of
Production, which in turn yields the Quality of Life Values in the community.
The Ecosystem Processes - water
cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow and succession, describe what happens in the
ecosystem. These terms can be
defined for a small geographic unit (Greybull River Watershed) or a large
geographic region (the Greater Yellowstone area).
The GOAL of the MCD must be continuously realized and maintained on the
basis of the four Ecosystem Processes.
The WHOLE - People, Money and Wealth, and Land are used in conjunction with
TOOLS - rest, fire, grazing, animal impact, living organisms, and technology in
order to manage the resources of the MCD, and achieve and maintain the GOAL for
the community. The Test for
Sustainability and Management Guidelines are defined and used by the MCD to
ensure the process, program or project is operating correctly, while proving to
be sustaining in relation to the ecological, social and financial considerations
of the community. The nature of
holism is that any change among any one of the ecosystem processes affect the
others, which requires the effort of the MCD to plan, monitor, control and
replan.
