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Show Salt Lake City Watershed Management Plan ' 99 COMMENTS RESPONSES " The Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining administers the abandoned mine program which has funding for reclaiming many abandoned mine sites. This program should be coordinated with and referenced in the Plan as a source of funding for eliminating all existing abandoned mine sites/ 7 Land Use/ Grazing " Increasing the enforcement to prevent livestock trespass may be difficult if intent to trespass must be demonstrated in order to gain a conviction. Recently, U. S. District Judge Benson ruled that for a sheep rancher to be convicted of illegally grazing sheep on federal land, the government must prove that beyond a reasonable doubt he did so " recklessly, knowingly or purposely."" " Creating an impoundment facility for livestock in Salt Lake Valley could be very expensive." Land Acquisition "... the recommendations for this section of the Plan are true and need to be part of the final Plan." Mitigation of safety hazards is funded through a tax on current coal production. A clause in the law allows for physical hazard mitigation to occur in hard rock mines. There is a fund in the clean water act dedicated to providing financial assistance mining clean- ups in watershed areas. These funds may be accessed in the future to assist in the clean- up of problem sites. Thank you for your comment. Arrangements will be made to hold trespassing livestock if necessary. The city will pursue an aggressive land acquisition program. Current land acquisition funds need to be increased and other options such as establishing a nonprofit organization/ land trust will be explored. Page 123 |