Wetlands project OK'd over objections

After nearly an hour of public comments mostly asking for "no action" on a proposed federal wetlands plan, the Utah Reclamation, Mitigation and Conservation commission — a subagency of the Department of the Interior — unanimously voted to proceed with the 4,800-acre project.

At a meeting last week, Commissioner Brad Barber broke a minutelong silence after a call for a motion and whispered his motion to accept the proposed alternative. After half a minute's further whispering a second was found. Commissioners' mouths barely moved when Chairwoman Jody Williams called for "all in favor," and she declared the motion passed.

"I'd like to move forward," Barber said after the vote. "I care very much about the concerns that have occurred here today and we'll do our very best to make sure those are addressed."

The project has raised controversy partly because of residents' fears that it would increase mosquito habitat and the risk of West Nile virus.

Of approximately 25 Myton and Fort Duchesne-area residents who attended the meeting at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building in Salt Lake City, one spoke in favor of the project. Harley Cambridge, the Ute Indian Tribe Wetlands Project coordinator, briefly reported that the Tribal Business Committee "supports this project."

Commission director Mike Weland gave a slide presentation highlighting previous wetlands projects it has funded and helped plan on the Wasatch Front and near Jordanelle Reservoir. He said the commission has always contracted with an outside entity, such as an environmental organization, to build and manage the projects, though they remain under commission oversight.

"This is no different from any of those projects," Weland said.

This led a number of visitors to publicly state what has only been said off the record before — that they don't believe the Tribal Business Committee will carry out its obligations. Several of the 18 visitors who spoke pointed to a pattern of failed tribal enterprises, including others funded by the same legislation being used to justify the wetlands project.Rancher Jay O'Driscoll, who saw the tribe's federally funded feed lot fail this spring, was the most blunt in his remarks.

Pointing to visiting tribe member Helen Wash, O'Driscoll said, "I'd sooner trust her, a tribal member, her word, over the business committee. I've seen it, I know how they work, and it sucks."