Rural Economic Reality in Utah

[mkmatheson]

This was not written specifically for a public land issue post. It is addressed instead to the Utah State Legislature that is currently in session. Long-time readers of these posts understand the zeal with which Utah fights for control of federal lands. I post it to offer some personal insight into the goings-on here in Utah and particularly the short shrift given to those outside the opportunity zone.

 

[Jape]

This was not written specifically for a public land issue post. It is addressed instead to the Utah State Legislature that is currently in session. Long-time readers of these posts understand the zeal with which Utah fights for control of federal lands. I post it to offer some personal insight into the goings-on here in Utah and particularly the short shrift given to those outside the opportunity zone.

While not trying to minimize the issues you may be going through in your community, this letter is probably better addressed to your legislative representatives.

 

[Ben Lamb]

That's a pretty good letter. I've long believed that until we recognize the true motivations behind transfer or other anti-conservation efforts at the grassroots level, we will continue to have nasty, mean-spirited fights.

Rural America has been in decline since the turn of last century. The economic engines that were powering those rural areas are changing, and some parties would rather try to play prop-up an industry rather than help people transition to a better economic engine for their towns or counties. Here is how one place is trying to get beyond the traditional boom & bust cycle: https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/14...et-package-delivery-sales-tax-montana-roundup

 

[davinski]

That is a good letter. I have worked with rural western counties and cities for 20 years now, many of which are in Utah. It's a similar situation around all the square states. While I am a rabid public lands advocate, I see much of where the land transfer movement motivation comes from. Rural counties with a lot of fed land of any type see their peer counties' tax revenue and just watch, in vain, while the urban centers prosper and they're dying on the vine. No county commissioner anywhere is going to get elected on the platform of "well, we're rural, have less money, so you just have to live with reduced services..." But that is the reality. I choose to live in a semi-rural area, understand that, and tolerate crappy roads, sheriffs deputies we never see, etc. in exchange for, well, all the positives of living in a rural area. But I think I'm in the minority these days of "gimme, gimme, gimme." PILT money doesn't go very far in trying to close the real or perceived gap in what counties could be generating in property tax and theoretical business activity. I don't know where it's all going, but it's playing out real time around the west.

I've only ever had to physically excuse myself from one table where a mayor was espousing about how every state should be like TX where every square inch of land is private and tax-generating. I just couldn't take it. Like it or not, there are probably millions of Americans who think just like him. In general, it's not because they are Snidely Whiplash twisting their mustache contemplating how to screw the public. It's because their neighbor or son was laid off, they're watching businesses and talent move from rural to urban areas, and wondering how to fund their transportation, education, and EMS with dwindling tax revenue. They get one vote just like you and me.

 

[Oneye]

Good letter. I’ve lived in Utah my whole life. The politics on public lands in rural areas is a hostile one. I get it, but their frustrations are not pointed in the right direction. Rural economies will struggle and it will probably get worse. The area I live depends heavily on a coal mine, a coal mine that in the next 20 years will probably be shut down. The truth is America has always been about being innovative, migrating, moving to be successful. You aren’t promised a job where you grew up, and that’s what so many politicians falsely run off of for rural votes.