The public must now be allowed, if not welcomed, to
sit in on Utah’s grazing advisory board meetings. In late June, the
state attorney general’s office issued a decision that forces all
five of Utah’s BLM advisory boards to open their doors, even to
activists such as grazing watchdog Scott Groene of the Southern
Utah Wilderness Alliance. Groene tried to attend an advisory-board
meeting two years ago but was kicked out. He appealed the ousting
to the state auditor’s office, but was told that advisory boards
aren’t subject to the Utah Open Meetings Act because they are
considered federal bodies. Groene then wrote to the state attorney
general, who ruled the boards must open their meetings because they
distribute public monies. “The ranchers are going to have to start
being accountable to the public,” Groene told the Salt Lake City
Deseret News. “When you’re using public money and public land, your
meetings should be open to the public.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Open sesame, grazing boards.
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