POWELL, Wyo. — Counties in the Big Horn Basin say preserving the Western way of life is their top priority.
The county commissions of Park, Big Horn, Washakie and Hot Springs counties recently submitted 22 pages of comments to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management outlining their vision of how federal land should be managed in the future.
“There is concern our Western culture is being destroyed or detrimentally changed,” the counties said.
The BLM took comments through Nov. 24 on a Resource Management Plan for the Big Horn Basin. Developing the plan will take several years. When complete, it will guide nearly every aspect of the 3.2 million acres of federal land in the basin over the next 15 to 20 years.
The four county commissions submitted remarks together. They were compiled by Ecosystem Research Group, a Missoula, Mont., environmental consulting firm.
The counties’ comments emphasize the importance of grazing in the basin.
