Secretary/Treasurer Connie Theos, left, and President Angelo Theos, right, ran the annual meeting on Friday of the Rio Blanco County Woolgrowers Association at Kilowatt Korner in Meeker. Roughly 50 people attended the meeting, where the members heard from representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Farm Services Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service among others regarding new rule and regulations, the status of snowpack in the surrounding area (which stands, for the most part, above normal), water rights and transfer of grazing leases.
Mary Gillespie, the range program director for the U.S. Forest Service, spoke to members of the Rio Blanco County Woolgrowers Association at their annual meeting Friday in Meeker. Gillespie said her budget for this year is down 15 percent but that it will be an active year with the 50th anniversary of The Wilderness Act, a large variety of small projects and uranium mine restoration setting the foundation for full reclamation, which will come later.
Brandon Sanders of the Natural Resources Conservation Service was one of speakers at the annual Rio Blanco County Woolgrowers Association annual meeting and luncheon Friday at Kilowatt Korner in Meeker. Sanders discussed the projects the NRCS will working on this year, including improved water access for wildlife, vegetation and fencing issues and the ability to help technically and financially with such things as moving private water sources to leased land. The lamb shank luncheon was catered by Hollidays of Meeker.
James Roberts, the assistant field manager for the BLM’s White River Field Office in Meeker, was another of the speakers at the annual Rio Blanco County Woolgrowers Association meeting on Friday in Meeker. Roberts’ most important message was that transfers of land leases must be reported to the BLM and that failing to do so will likely affect one’s grazing permits.
