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Show i ) . i f 1 ' y i ' : i! .- . V ' 4 . i ... ... ' - ' ... ' ; i . i ' :Y I '1 i ,,: ' I - ... , Tyler Owens, 23, formerly of Panguitch, recently graduated graduat-ed from Utah State University and accepted a staff position posi-tion with the Committee on Resources in Washington D.C., which is chaired by Utah Congressman James V. Hansen. Owens Accepts Resource Committee Appointment In Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON, D.C. Former Panguitch High School graduate Tyler Owens, 23, who has now graduated from Utah State University in Logan with a bachelor's degree in political science, has accepted a staff position with the Committee on Resources in Washington, D.C. The committee is chaired by Utah Congressman James V. Hansen. Owens left Panguitch midday Monday to make the drive back to Arlington, Va., accompanied by his father Gary Owens of Panguitch. Mom Karla remained home to keep an eye on the home front and remaining family members Austin, 21, Kasey, 17 and Karli, 10. Tyler will work primarily on Utah issues including national parks, monuments, forests, grazing, graz-ing, wilderness and public lands in general. Owens, who was previously employed by Cache County to address RS2477 rights-of-way issues, now anticipates antic-ipates attending law school classes in the evening while working full time for the Resources Committee. In high school Owens at first was interested in criminal law, then gravitated toward environmental environ-mental law and possibly becoming becom-ing a Natural Resources Attorney. Early influences included Utah Legislator Tom Hatch and Garfield County Commissioner Louise Liston. Owens noted at that time how difficult it was for these rural communities to function with all the state and federal impacts and felt they would ultimately need a more powerful voice. Liston took Owens under her wing and educated him in the natural resource issues facing Garfield County. In high school he was involved in all student body (See OWENS on page 3-A) Tyler Owen From Front Page affairs and served for two years as a computer technician with school district's district computer comput-er specialist Phil Singleton. After graduating in May 1997, Owens left for an LDS mission to Santiago, Chile in September. Upon his return to Utah, within with-in 10 days Owens entered college col-lege at Utah State University in the fall of 1999. There he met Randy Simon, head of the university's uni-versity's Political Science Department. Rep. Hatch had referred Owens to - Simon because of his natural resources background and his potential to be of assistance in the Department of Interior and they talked about the possibility of an internship in Washington, D.C. Congressman Jim Hansen chaired the Committee on Natural Resources, overseeing five sub-committees 1) Forest and Forest Health, 2) National Parks and Public Lands and Recreation, 3) Energy and Minerals, 4) Fisheries and Wildlife, and 5) Energy and Power. In the summer Owens returned to Garfield County where he took a position with Garfield County as an assistant to Garfield County Attorney Wallace Lee, working specifically specifi-cally on natural resource and environmental issues for the Garfield County Commission. On Jan. 5, 2001, Owens headed head-ed to Washington, D.C. to fulfill an internship. He spent several days at first just sightseeing and then - found residence in Centre ville, Va., a two-hour commute from Washington. Things are different back in Washington and Owens learned he had to walk first to the bus, take the bus to the subway and then the subway on in to Washington to Longworth, across from the Capitol. Owens worked in the center office! the main heart of the committee with Chief of Staff Allen Freemyer and Legislative Director Tim Stewart. Three other interns were assigned to sub-committees and he would . work daily from 8-9 a.m. to 6 p.m. then take the two-hour trip back to Virginia. He worked primarily on Utah (See OWENS on page 5-A) Owens To Washington From Page 3-A issues and specifically on RS2477 roads legislation. Owens worked directly with the Director of the Bureau of Land Management Sally Wisely on wilderness issues. He also worked with the Forest Service on Mt. Nebo wilderness boundary bound-ary adjustments after the water systems for Nephi and Mona had been incorporated within wilderness designations and needed to be traded out. Owens also worked on Jim Hansen's introductory speech and various speeches Hansen used on the floor of the House during the committee hearings and testimony on the San Rafael Swell designation. An interesting part of his duties has been his involvement in reviewing the designations of 19 new monuments and enlarging enlarg-ing of three existing monuments by the Clinton administration. A review was initiated by Representative Joel Hefley from Colorado who chairs the Public Lands subcommittee. Owens wrote letters for review by Congress on these designations. Due to these reviews the committee was able to affect some change such as at Craters of the Moon they were able to preserve hunting through legislation legis-lation that was not in the original origi-nal designation, and at Canyon of the Ancients where gas and oil leases had been impacted and they were able to address valid and existing rights on leases and uphold them. Owens noted that most of the parcels identified as monuments had been previously identified as potential National Conservation Areas. All these monument designations were reviewed for mineral and oil exploration potential and USGS maps were obtained to study road designations. The reviews endeavored to make the monument designations designa-tions more livable by negotiating negotiat-ing mineral rights, roads, hunting, hunt-ing, grazing, etc. Owens noted . that with a stroke of a pen the President Bill Clinton had been able to issue a proclamation under the Antiquities Act to designate des-ignate these monuments but it took an actual act of Congress to make any subsequent changes. Owens worked also on the Roadless Initiative with the Forest Service and will have similar issues on line this year. |