Date:February 24, 2009
Contact:
Brian Cottam, Associate Director
Southern Utah University Office of Regional Services
435.865.8023
cottamb@suu.edu
Paul Husselbee
Media Relations
435.559.0495
husselbee@bresnan.net
CEDAR CITY — Iron County planning and management issues, including an update on the Utah Prairie Dog Recovery Implementation Program and presentation of a Southern Utah tourism study, will be among the topics discussed at the Southwest Utah Planning Authorities Council (SUPAC) bi-monthly meeting on March 3, 2009, at Cedar City’s Heritage Center and Festival Hall.
Iron County Administrator Reed Erickson will discuss the prairie dog recovery program, as well as information on other county planning issues. Michael Worthen, the county’s natural resource specialist, will make a presentation on County Resource Management Planning.
Dr. Emmett Steed, an associate professor at Southern Utah University, will present results of the Southern Utah Visitor Profile Study, while Iron Mission State Park Manager Todd Prince will discuss the museum’s $1.4 million Iron Works Homestead Expansion project.
The meeting will conclude with a presentation on SUU’s Intergovernmental Internship Cooperative. Steve McCarthy and Anne Smith, IIC Agency and campus coordinators respectively, will provide details about the cooperative, and about McCarthy’s dual role working with Cedar Breaks National Monument and SUU Regional Services.
The meeting will be preceded by a field trip hosted by and about projects of the Central Iron County Water Conservancy District. After the field trip, SUPAC members will return to the Heritage Center, 105 N. 100 East, for lunch at noon. The meeting will begin at 12:45 p.m.
Free parking for the meeting is available at the multi-level parking garage on 100 East, behind the Cedar City offices. Directions and a map to the Heritage Center and parking garage are located at www.heritagectr.org/images/DrivingDirections.pdf
SUPAC invites county and municipal elected officials, economic development directors, planning commissioners, and planning professionals, as well as all interested members of the public, to attend the meeting. Lunch with SUPAC members is available at a cost of $10 per person. If interested in attending lunch, please contact Kathleen McDowell, 435.586.7738, before Aug. 29 to RSVP.
SUPAC is a regional collaboration of state and federal agencies and local governments whose geographic emphasis is Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane and Washington counties. Created by then-Gov. Michael O. Leavitt in 1994, SUPAC aims to facilitate shared goals and strategies for planning and resource development, as well as to enhance information-sharing and cooperation among agencies, organizations and local governments in southwest Utah.
Cooperators include federal agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service; state agencies, such as the Governor’s Office and Department of Natural Resources; and local governments and organizations in the five-county region. SUPAC is administered by SUU’s Office of Regional Services.
Wes Curtis, SUU’s Vice President for Government Relations and Regional Services, serves as SUPAC chair. He said the organization provides a consistent opportunity for communication with the highest levels of government focused on important community planning and development issues in southwest Utah, such as public lands, natural resources and transportation.
“These can be very controversial topics,” Curtis said, “but SUPAC provides a consistent forum to discuss these and other critical issues for our region.”
SUPAC is not a planning or advisory committee, Curtis pointed out. Rather, it is a cooperative effort focused on getting decision-makers together to exchange information, minimize misunderstandings, and explore solutions to important regional planning challenges.
SUPAC meetings occur every two months at locations that rotate among the participating counties. Anyone interested in more information about the cooperative effort or desiring to be added to the SUPAC e-mail list can contact SUU Regional Services at 435.865.8023 or cottamb@suu.edu.