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Show MAY 9, 2001. WASATCH sl See Z00 za Shae State Starts Redrawing COUNTY :/ COURIER si See Sache ese ee ccc ae Congressional Borders Senator predicts few changes for Wasatch County. * TIM WESTBY COURIER “J don’t see any big changes for Wasatch County,” Sen. Beverly Evans STAFF told the Courier in a phone interview he once-a-decade ritual has last week. Evans is one of five Senators on the redistricting committee. a battleground for both political par- ties. Evans admits there is a brawl brewing over Wasatch’s neighbor to the north. But there is little that can be Currently, Wasatch and Duchesne done to Wasatch except splitting the counties make up House District 54. county down the middle—a possibility she rejects.. _ started at the Utah Capitol. input. The committee mall eee at least 11 more times after that before the state’s political boundaries are drawn. The committee is made up of 15 House members and 5. Senators, including Evans. Besides redrawing - boundaries for the state Legislature, the committee will also redraw the A committee of 20 legislators is Senate District 56, the district Evans — taking up the always lengthy and usu“We're going to represents, is state’s three districts for Congress. ally ultra-controversial process of really fight hard to keep The committee plans to draw up a fouralso made up of “We're going to esalhy _ Wasatch County whole,” redistricting the state’s Cone SO) | the two counties district scenario in the chance that the boundaries. and a corner of said Evans. The last . state wins a long-shot lawsuit against fight hard to keep While some see the process as a eastern Summit | | time the legislature took the Census Bureau over the agency’s painful ritual, others call it a chess counting of LDS missionaries serving County com- Wasatch County whole.” up redistricting 10 years match that can make or = ee prised mainly of ao ago, Evans said she overseas. The state argues that it careers. would have gained a congressional Park City. SEN. BEVERLY EVANS pledged to keep » What will it mean “for Wasatch Evans downWasatch intact. And she seat given to North Carolina if the Gounty? cfs: : ‘ played the possiis making that pledge Census Bureau had properly counted ‘Probably not much, according to bility of tweaking Wasatch County’s again ine time around. » all 11,000 overseas missionaries. | the senator that represents the county — Summit County was the fleet The next redistricting committee congressional boundaries even in the Utah Legislature. _ though Summit County is turning into growing county in Utah during the meeting is tomorrow (May 10) in Salt the state gathering could go away and allow our land to become condominiums.” CHARLESTON For his part, Robinson doubts the debate over wolf management will- be any different in Utah than in other places where wolves were either reintroduced or came back naturally. The debate is more about eS ee worldviews, he says. “The conflict is between people: between people’s worldviews, their Charleston asserted. And excuse me, they say, there has never been a recorded report of a wolf attacking a Gute or any human. Now, the debate, wich has into the state from Yellowstone. The _ best guess estimate is sometime within the next five years wolves will migrate naturally back into the state. When they come they will be the first wolves in Utah since the last one was killed in 1930. With some of the best wolf habi- tat in the Uinta Mountains, the debate over what to do when they get here _ could focus on northeastern Utah. Actually, the debate has already started. But don’t expect to hear any- thing new from either side. ct GP around they will happen. Some say a lone wolf or two may have already made its way Bath! district is roughly equal in size. He expects the job to be = by tive eastern Salt Lake counties. The redistricting committee will spend the next five months traveling tection of the wolf would supercede changed little, is moving to Utah — dit Dike: wits _ western Summit and more conserva- Americans wanted those places protected.. Wolves restore ecosystems, northeastern Utah, specifically and possibly Wasatch County. The gray wolf is headed this way. No one can say for sure when it Ve the school board. Clerk Brent Titcomb said the county must ensure that each “Theyll kill our livestock. And after they kill all our cattle, they'll kill our elk and all our deer,” says Richard Neilson, president of the Utah Cattleman’s Association. “Wolves can be good for local economies” because people flock to _ places where they might see them, says Kirk Robinson with the Western Wildlife Conservancy, a Salt Lake Citybased environmental group. “The issue of wolves offers the opportunity to be a better community.” — These men are two of the most outspoken proponents and opponents of the subject. And with such strong feelings on both sides, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has — already started drawing up a manage- ment plan for wolves when they come back. At the end of April, the agency - wound up a series of public meetings state control. “I guess public [ranchers] February 2002. es ‘ 2 Email: tim@wasatchcountycourier.com pa Town ; 654-7177 a hopes and fears and not:so much about wolves. We have to get past that somehow,” he says. Robinson lists a plethora of reasons why rural counties and ranchers should not fear the return of wolves. He points to a program by the Washington, D.C.- based Defenders of Wildlife that compensates ranchers for wolf kills on their land in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Minnesota, the states with the largest wolf populations. Around Yellowstone populations of coyote, which are much more likely to attack sheep, have. actually — | decreased since the wolf’s return. And. elk and deer numbers have been cut to ‘More sustainable numbers. Education, says Robinson, is the key. “The more people know about wolves, the less they are a victim of the mythology of wolves.” Neilson isn’t buying it. “The wolf is just one more thing _ against the rancher,” he says. The Division of Wildlife Resources. is accepting public comments about how to manage wolves that migrate to Utah until May 11. Residents can email a message to wolf comments@state.ut.us. More informa- fio is available at www.nr.state.ut.us/dwr/graywolfinu- tah.htm. Email: tim@wasatchcountycourier.com TE creatures within its borders and that the overwhelming number of dominated by Republicans. But there is talk — mainly from Republicans — of making a district comprised of liberal ATSC supwith that that conwild " Lit. albhdnasttSh, | seamsas wiser Environmentalists and wolf porters countered such rhetoric rhetoric of their own. They argued bringing back the wolf showed the U.S. was still a country that tained wild places and equally around ae state to pia input. By the time the wolves get here, the -U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is expected to “downlist” the gray wolf from an endangered species to threatened — reducing the strict protections on the animal and giving the state flex| ibility on management. When asked what his organization would do to push its anti-wolf agenda, Neilson responded: “Nothing. We can’t do anything” because federal pro- TL WOLVES. CONTINUED FROM A1 Lake City. Future meetings will be held in Brigham City, Richfield, Cedar City, Price, Provo, Park City and Tooele. All meetings are open to the public. The Wasatch County Clerk’s office will also begin taking up the issue of redrawing the five districts for 1990s, as it almost doubled its population — most of it in and around Park City. The ski town is generally considered one of the most liberal in the state. Democrats want to make sure it maintains a scare stronghold in a state |