CEDAR CITY — Public employees and elected leaders from throughout rural Utah gathered on the campus of Southern Utah University on Thursday for the start of a two-day summit on economic-development issues.

Turnout for the annual conference was down significantly from the year before, with only 201 people registered this year compared to 325 attendees in 2005. The Utah Rural Summit is in its 19th year and usually attracts county commissioners, elected officials and employees from various public agencies.

Leigh von der Esch, executive director of the Utah Travel and Tourism Office, profiled the state's new marketing slogan, Utah — Life Elevated, and advertising campaign.

"Two years ago when I went somewhere, I had about 80 brochures to hand out," but an infusion of $10 million in state tourism money is changing the way Utah markets itself to the world, she said.

Advertisements for Utah destinations are appearing in millions of brochures published by the American Park Network, an official guide of the National Park Foundation, and images of Utah are being wrapped on semi-trucks traveling throughout the West. Both are first-time marketing avenues for the state's tourism office.

Breakout sessions featured a variety of topics from rural economic-development strategies to managing public lands. The Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006 was reviewed in a morning session.

Also attracting attention was last week's ruling by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball against the BLM's planned oil-and-gas lease sale planned for later this month. Kimball ruled that the BLM in Utah violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not considering new information about the wilderness values and characteristics of 16 lease tracts to be offered in the sale.

"This recent decision by Judge Kimball is making things real interesting in the BLM arena right now," said Val Payne, with the Utah office of Public Lands Policy.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Wilderness Society. The BLM has not indicated whether the judge's ruling will affect the planned sale date of Tuesday.

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com