Cross Your Fingers

It’s 6am and I had a rough night of sleep contemplating what is to unfold today. I’m not good at politics, but have learned over the years it’s a necessary part of the business process regardless of your vocation. I find it very emotional and draining. Although it can be rewarding, I much prefer dealing with the my customers and sticking to what I know best, fishing with a fly.

Today is a critical one regarding the Green River Development issue. At 2:00pm we meet with the Trust for Public Lands (TPL) before sitting down with Kevin Carter of SITLA. TPL is willing to negotiate with SITLA for the controversial parcel that would have been awarded to Flint Timber and Spinnerfall guide service for development. Thanks to anglers and a number of individual efforts this contract has been rescinded hopefully for ever. We will know more after 3pm today.

TPL is a group who intervenes in such critical issues and negotiates to take such lands and habitats off the market. Should they be successful, they will then make arrangements to place these lands into appropriate hands for management. Should this be successful, it is most likely that this parcel will eventually end up in UDWR’s inventory. They already have a section that adjoins this SITLA parcel.

TPL isn’t the only group who is pursuing this property, however all parties currently involved are working together to see that this goes through. At the moment we are in a great position to move forward and settle this. We are fortunate that SITLA is entertaining a sale of the property that would take this parcel out of their inventory and put it in the hands of someone who would manage it for the beneficial use of all with the intention of preserving the experience that we have come to enjoy and respect on Utah’s Green River.

The Nature Conservancy is another group whose involvement has been instrumental in this. I have had a number of conversations with David Livermore and Chris Montague that have helped us negotiate this transaction and bring it to where it is today. Without their intervention in the early stages of this process, I don’t know that we would have gotten the opportunities that we currently have.

There are a lot of people and groups here, Stonefly Society, Denny Breer, Terry Collier to mention a few, who are making this happen. Hats off to all! Wish us luck and at 3:00pm keep your fingers crossed. We’ll know more by the day's end….