Hello everybody welcome to this week's
episode of The County Seat once again County
Seat is going to take a look at an individual
county and profile the county from head to toe
from history to future. This week we are
focusing on Duchesne County let's start with a
little bit of the history.
Duchesne County is a place that thrives because
of the people who love to live, work and
recreate there. Even in its early days the people
are what made it special.
The history of Duchesne County is unique in
many ways. For starters unlike many of the
early settlements across Utah it was not
organized by Brigham Young or the LDS church.
The earliest settlers that came to what would
become Duchesne County came because of the
offer of 160 acres under the federal Homestead
Act. Those enterprising people lived of the land
for five years, made improvements and paid
$1.25 per acre to earn the title to their
homesteads.
The same enterprising attitude that brought
these brave men and women to Duchesne
continues on in the people of the County today.
The people of Duchesne are always striving to
offer the best of the best to those around them.
The county isn't too far from Salt Lake City and
the Wasatch front but even so the county
prides itself on being able to serve its
community just as well or even better.
Take for instance the excellent hospital network
available in the area. With a few basic
exceptions Uintah Basin healthcare which is
based in Roosevelt can handle almost any type
of medical care.
"Our goal has always been how do we keep
people close to home. And so we have really
had a huge focus on experience and technology
and our goal is to bring people into our facility
allow them to receive all the healthcare services
they might need and do it in a way that feels
more like home.
From our history, the hospital was created out
of a vision of our local community members.
They fund raised for years to be able to build
the first hospital and then another two years to
be able to get the equipment they needed to be
able to establish the hospital. So from the very
early stages of the existence of our organization
its had a huge amount of community support.
We have friends we have neighbors community
members who are caring for their community
members and most of those people because we
are small community we know them and we
believe that because of that we can provide a
different feel and different focus for patients
that come to see us."
But even when the work is beyond the
capabilities of the hospital thanks to high speed
internet the help is just a video call away.
"A hospital here, Uintah Basin Medical Center
here in Roosevelt can connect to the university
of Utah as their diagnosing a patient and
leverage a high speed connection to diagnose
an issue that is very critical""
That same internet is available to all of
Duchesne's resident. Strata works tirelessly to
connect more and more homes and businesses
to its fiber optic network.
"The internet is critical to my job. I mean I work
from home and really it's the main tool I use to
communicate with my customers and other
employees that I'm working with, to hold phone
calls and video conferences. Having a solid
internet connection is absolutely vital to what I
do."
Many people like Justin are moving to Duchesne
to work and live because of these conditions
but just as important is the great community it
provides to live in.
"I grew up in kind of a small town that was
getting bigger and bigger. I was looking for a
good place to raise my kids, kinda a smaller
more comfortable town and this fit the bill."
"It's much easier to know your neighbors, to
have a great place to raise your kids and if you
like outdoor recreation, if you like that kind of
lifestyle, a rural community is a great choice."
And even if you are just coming to visit and not
to live Duchesne has some great places.
"You're basically there in like 20 minutes to
where you can hike, and ride horse, and play
and hunt and fish pretty much endlessly."
"We managed to get up the upper stillwater
dam as the dam was over flowing. It's a giantic
man made waterfall and you're able to get right
up next to it."
For the County Seat, I'm Malia Stringham.
Well we now have looked at the history of
Duchesne county we have looked at some
accomplishments they have made and what
kind of impact does that actually make in their
daily life that will be where we take up the
conversation as we come back and visit with the
county commissioners with Duchesne county
right after this commercial break.
Welcome back to The County Seat we are
profiling Duchesne County for our entire show
today to talk about their accomplishments and
their history past and future joining us for the
panel discussion the Commissioners of
Duchesne County, Greg Todd, Ron Winterton
and Ken Burdick. Is this the way you guys do it
when you are in commission meeting?
Opposite.
Okay, I didn't know if you had an actual set
place?
Odd man out is always in the center.
I thought that was the commission chair.
I am.
That's the odd man out and thank you for
taking the time to join us here in the studio. In
the story we covered a lot of things that really
set Duchesne apart from other counties right
now one of them is obviously is the fact that
you are one of the pioneers in fiber optic to get
your internet stuff up to speed and I cannot
even get the kind of internet here on the
Wasatch front that you have so I would like to
know how that has impacted the county how
much change has that made for how people live
or conduct business in Duchesne County?
We had an example I was working for a
company that wanted to move from Roosevelt
to the Wasatch Front the owners of the
company were out of New York and New York
said let's move to the big city they moved to the
big city and forgot that they do not have
internet here when they here several years ago
so it took a year for the fiber optic to come to
their office here in Salt Lake City which we had
for several years here in Roosevelt.
Nobody reminded them of that. You guys do
things other than serving the county has it
made a difference in your business to have that
kind of speed and access.
We take it for granted because we have had it
for so long. Whether you are farming or
checking your irrigation pivots or anything like
that we have it instantly there and so we just
become accustomed and we don't realize it till
you come out here.
The other interesting story that really
impressed me is your health care system and
how far the Uintah basin has developed health
care. How did you guys get a leg up on that?
Ironically I'm on the hospital board and have
been for about 8 or 9 years and it is very
interesting to see how that developed.
Forefront thinking and opportunities there are
25 to 26 doctors there and it's a great
opportunity for people to recognize there is a
good health care system in Eastern Utah.
Obviously, Duchesne and Uintah County are
fueled by fuel, basically or have been doing that
play a big part in being able to get your
healthcare systems and the facilities in place?
I thought very significantly. Young families, we
have 3 obstetricians and that is a big factor.
It's a really big factor and then the other thing is
I was talking to one of the doctors as well he
said that thing about this hospital is that
doctors love it because it's not the big hospital
it's a small privately owned almost, it's not but
it's like that and they get that feeling where
they enjoy it and they are not just a number
they are actually somebody there patients and
doctors.
On a broader note, I think sometimes people
forget that if they live in Duchesne or Roosevelt
we have a tendency of thinking of Duchesne
county in terms of US 40 and parts of US 40 that
are not the prettiest parts of the county but just
to the north of town you guys have got some
spectacular scenery does that help draw people
in to work in hospitals and businesses?
The quality of life outside of work you can be to
the high Uinta's in 20 minutes from town you
can enjoy the high lakes, the fishing just going
up and camping its accessible and close
whether you go to the Stillwater Dam which is
about 45 minutes to hour away from Roosevelt
it is spectacular and it leads into the high Uintah
wilderness area so quality of life attracts a lot of
those that they can perform their work and
then enjoy the great outdoors.
A lot of people that have not made their way up
there do not realize it is not just a bureau of
reclamation water site either there or at moon
lake but actually, there are campgrounds and
facilities and resorts and things that surround
those areas. Lots of lodges does that help draw
so when you guys go out to pitch businesses to
come to the county do you drop that card on
them?
To some that is very appealing to have a
destination resort they also like the quietness
and being alone and these resorts offer that you
can go out and have a cabin by yourself you can
be in the lodge there is a big one up in Tabiona
and so yes you can be away from the city and
yet come back to the internet you got
everything right there.
Cell phone service is good in most places.
When you get clear up there in those canyons
not so much but most of the way up there it is.
Interesting.
You can go snowmobiling and have it.
We are going to take a break you are watching
the County Seat we are really engaged in this
conversation about the benefits of Duchesne
County we will come back and talk about
challenges about looking to deal with. We will
be right back.
Welcome back to The County Seat we are
talking with the Duchesne County
commissioners in a show that is highlighting
Duchesne and we have talked about the history
and the status some of the benefits of the
county and there are challenges and I'd like to
focus on the challenges. Obviously, you are an
energy county and with the new energy policies
that came out of the last administration, I am
sure that exasperated an already volatile
marketplace what has that done to the
unemployment in the county? Where are you
at right now?
This morning they reported that we are at 6.6%
which we feel really good because we were in
excess of 9% and so that a direct correlation
with the previous administration's policy on
fossil fuels. We had drilling activity going on
again and we started to see people go back to
work and again that drilling has taken place on
private ground and some of the tribal ground
and not on federal land so we still need to have
a lot of help from the federal government in
changing those policies.
We have a new administration that basically
said that they are looking at all of the above
way of handling energy and they want cheap
abundant energy in the United States and think
we should rely on ourselves to get it has not
trickled down to federal lands and leases?
Not in our area it has not. If everything is
private pretty much part of it is being able to
get the regulations and all the APD's all the
information for the federal government it's a
big big process.
So we have had this discussion before that on
State land permits to drill take about 45 days
and they really take an excess of 2years on
federal. If you had the ability to go to the
federal government and they would follow your
policy would streamlining that process be part
of what you would take to them.
I think that the current administration is trying
to do that they have told the local BLM office to
jump on them but they keep an inventory so
that they always have a place to go drill but
because of the price of oil and natural gas we
have a discounted price there in the basin and
so that is not too enticing for people that drill.
The process to get through the federal
government is a long process so they can go
somewhere else and drill cheaper and faster.
I guess that is a question that a lot of people
don't really consider is that you might have
more activity if the precursors the hoops that
you have to jump through to get the drill in the
ground were less would that make it more
enticing because their chance of return is
better?
It's got to be because of the time frame.
Everyone wants a return on their money and if
you are taking 2 to 5 years to even get a chance
to get some of that back people and companies
are very hesitant to take that time.
How is it that the state can be so much quicker
than the federal government?
They do not have quite as many regulations.
They do a good job here in the state but when
you look at the federal government and you
have to go through a NEPA process and the
impacts that is going to bring that is where the
time frame and our local BLM people do a great
job we get along great with them but they still
have their marching orders and so the process
is somewhat stifled and we cannot get through
it.
So part of this is like air quality issues. We have
heard that the new secretary the EPA Secretary
Pruitt we need to streamline that and cut back
some of the rigs has that translated in anything
that proves on the ground yet?
There is talk of the improvement. Even now
they are in Vernal meeting trying to streamline
some things with the oil gas and air quality
going on there.
We are still moving a lot of oil out of the basin
and one of the things that we talked about in
the break was that it is still having an impact
and creating a challenge from not only county
roads but state roads as well. For people that
do not drive US 40 and realize there is still a lot
of trucks going up and down the canyon into
the county what kind of impact does that have?
It's a big impact. For every loaded truck, it's like
70 cars for one truck. A supertanker is like 100
cars for one semi and right now we are
transporting I think we are right at 63,000
barrels a day that is coming towards the
Wasatch front for refineries and so you put 300
barrels on a truck and figure out how many
trucks we have that is quite an impact and for a
county to try and keep up on the roads we have
to feed into Highway 40 so we have those
impacts and how do we keep up with that?
Mineral lease money comes from production
off of federal land if not federal land we do not
have the money to keep up with that and build
these roads.
So that is part of the reason that drilling on
federal land becomes important for the county
because it generates that federal lease money
that you are not getting from State lands?
Should the state be changing their policy about
how they divvy up their royalties?
Well, the state was really wise years ago when
they created that permanent community
impact board they received mineral lease
money so it is just as important to them that it
is happening on federal land as it is to the
counties. So the state is a good partner to keep
the activity going out there we appreciate that
again we do not see anything coming back to
the county to help us with the impacts.
How do you solve the road problem other than
you have to get royalties coming back?
Turn it to gravel.
Well, you may laugh but I Know that Tooele
County at one point actually because they had
so much problem with the road funding they
actually did take some pavement out.
Let me give you an instance. This summer we
have a road that goes up into the forest and it
crosses travel ground and to be able to improve
that road to haul it up there we were talking
over 400,000 dollars just in transportation
costs, not the product. We leased a mobile
crusher and we went and crushed it onsite and
went down the road and did it for almost a
fourth of what that would have costs up just in
transportation so we are trying to be thinking
outside of the box.
So there are some solutions to the problems.
There are always solutions.
Sometimes not so popular. We are going to
take another break here on The County Seat
when we come back we will look to the future
and get out the crystal ball and look at what lies
ahead for Duchesne County we will be right
back.
Welcome back to The County Seat we are
talking to Duchesne County. I want to talk to
the viewers who are not really familiar with the
county. What are your visions for the county in
ten years? What's trending with the county
that is going to improve or hope to improve in
the next ten years?
Well, we would like to diversify. That's a big
word how do you diversify from oil and gas?
We used to be a farming community we still
have a lot of hobby farmers out there we did
build an event center it's been operating for
almost 2 years now it has an equestrian arena
in it also and that is seeing some activity and
bringing life to the city of Duchesne. Some of
the smaller communities are benefiting from
what is happening on the Wasatch front
because of their proximity of being closer they
are starting to see some of that?
That bedroom community conversation about
businesses we kind of in our minds think south
like Juab and going that direction but it actually
just as easy to have that happening to the east?
We are seeing some of the effects of that and I
think we will see a lot more I really do. It's kind
of an area that has not been discovered in some
respects.
Tabiona just over wolf creek pass is between 35
and 45 minute drive to Park City not any harder
than from Utah county up to Salt Lake we are
seeing people coming out and building homes
there and using that as a commuter route and
in the winter time it adds another 20 or so
minutes to have to go around on highway 40.
You just leave hour snowmobile parked at the
base and leave your car over on the other side
of Camus. It would work great.
Or cross-country ski over it a lot of people like
to get their exercise that way.
We are working trails and trying to get some of
that in for people to come out and have some
good trail rides bicycles atv' UTVs backpacks and
there are some really beautiful areas to go our
9-mile canyon areas have so much to see and
people come in from Price.
Everybody thinks 9-mile canyon from the
carbon side they do not think about the
Duchesne side but it the same beautiful country
regardless what end you come in at.
That's the thing about our county we have the
wilderness in the northern part and the Uintah's
clear down to 9 mile south kind of a desert
areas but we have everything in between we
have a lot of hunting and fishing and just
recreation properties that at available and
people just like to get away from the hustle of
salt lake and Utah county and relax.
Are their relationships that you would dream
that could do better going forward into the
future?
We do a lot with Uintah County and we try to
keep those ties good. We have the Ute tribe
out there and we could definitely do a better
job and hopefully we can mend some relations
there that going forward we are one
community and we have the same goal in sight.
Excellent, gentlemen we are fresh out of time
and thank you so much for joining us it has
been really good to learn about Duchesne
county it's been good to have you all along with
us and remember local government is where
your life happens be involved be part of the
solution we will see you next week on the
county seat and be sure to check out and
respond on our social media we want to have a
dialogue with you. See you next week.
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