County board approves forestry work plan

By RICHARD JENKINS

rjenkins@yourdailyglobe.com

Hurley — The Iron County Board of Supervisors approved the 2021 work plan for the county forestry department, as well as a resolution allowing the county to seek grants to administer the county forest, at the board’s monthly meeting Tuesday.

The work plan covers everything from upgrades to the various county parks and trail systems to timber sales and wildlife habitat management.

Forest administrator Eric Peterson told the forestry committee earlier this month he wasn’t planning to start many new projects next year.

“We don’t have a lot of recreation and/or road projects on the schedule for next year because next year we’re kind of looking at (it) as a catch-up year. We’ve got a lot of stuff that’s been started and not finished,” Peterson said, adding road maintenance will be necessary to ensure the roads don’t get too bad. “We didn’t apply for a lot of other project monies for ‘21, just so we could have a year of trying to get some of our in-house stuff done.”

Some of the items in the plan Peterson highlighted during the committee meeting included finishing improvements to the Weber Lake campground facility; upgrading the boat launches at Fisher Lake, Obadash Lake and Lake One; the replacement of a snowmobile bridge on Trail 12 in Mercer and completing the replacement of gates along Trail 17 between Hurley and Mercer.

The county board also approved a resolution allowing Peterson to apply for relevant grants to help fund projects Tuesday. 

“This is your annual resolution authorizing me to apply for grants wherever possible to try and get us project money,” Peterson explained at the forestry committee meeting.

In other action, the county board:

—Approved changes to the county employee handbook regarding part-time employees and health care coverage.

—Passed a resolution approving a road use permit allowing Cloud 1 LLC to cross county land for work the company is involved in near Whitecap Mountain Resort in the town of Anderson.

—Heard the budget hearing is scheduled for Nov. 10 at 4 p.m.