Kane County Commission supports Congresswoman Maloy’s opposition to GSENM management plan

Commissioner Gwen Brown opened her first meeting as Com­mission Chair at the commission meeting on January 27. The meeting was well at­tended, and following the prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, it opened with a lively public comment period.

Multiple members of the public stood to speak in favor of the current Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument management plan, citing data showing no forced government reductions in grazing lands and increasing tourism visitation to the area, opposing the congressional review of the monument. One member of the public stood in support of the congressional review, opposing the current plan.

Following these com­ments, representa­tives from the Miss Kane County Pageant royalty stood to pro­mote the charitable cause for this year’s pageant: they invited the county and mem­bers of the public to join them in wearing red on January 6, to support an awareness campaign for women’s heart health.

Following the public comment period, the commission entered the action agenda, starting with an ap­proval of the 2026 County Fee Schedule. Some county fees in­creased in accordance with state fee policies, including electric ve­hicle charging station rates increases, a re­turn check fee decrease and an updated alcohol policy at the Kanab Center ensuring ID checks.

After a few land use approvals, the Com­mission began the discussion on the po­tential support of the state congressional re­view of the Monument, the topic which the majority of public com­menters in the meeting had addressed. Per Government Affairs head Taylor Glover, “Some things in the management plan, we don’t agree with per the County’s manage­ment plan … there’s a reduction in Ani­mal Unit Months, in some cases complete allotments, which are people’s livelihoods. Another issue we had in this plan, according to this plan allotments can be permanently retired … there’s 1.2 million acres within a ‘primitive zone’ which doesn’t allow basically anything; camping, target shooting, wood gathering, recreation. If your child shot a BB gun in that zone it’d be a federal offense.” Said Commissioner Gwen Brown, “They did not get enough input from the local people. People that have grown up on these lands have taken care of it … we don’t need the government from Washington D.C., half of them haven’t even been here, to come tell us how to manage.” The commis­sion unanimously ap­proved the resolution supporting the State’s congressional review of the management plan, opposing the federal plan.

The final item of the meeting, per regular operation, was the legislative and com­mission assignment review. With the 2026 legislative session underway and more bills being filtered through, the commis­sion reiterated some of the county’s priorities, such as opposing the ongoing preliminary municipality process, supporting the efforts to make roads more visitor-friendly in re­sponse to Zion closing to large vehicles and finishing up the preparations for the new Wilderness Urban Interface maps.

Following the re­ports, the meeting adjourned.