5 Public Input and Needs Assessment

5.1 Public and Other Input

An initial round of public meetings was held in May and June of 2019 with locations in Duchesne, Roosevelt, Altamont, and Tabiona. Each of these meetings consisted of a 15-minute presentation showing the goals of the master planning efforts and requesting input from the public and then online survey information was distributed, maps were displayed, and comment forms distributed so that comments could be received in multiple different ways.

In September 2019 an online public comment map was distributed to the public to review the listed ideas and leave feedback in the form of likes and comments. The map was emailed out to the list of stakeholders and they were encouraged to review the concepts and provide feedback in multiple emails. Many comments were left on that map and they can be found on the concept maps in Section 9

Advertisement for the public meetings and online tools was made through newspaper ads, radio spots, the Duchesne County Trails Master Plan Facebook Page and through flyers posted around the towns.

Results of the online surveys, and copies of the comments received can be found in Section 5.2.1 and in the concept forms in Appendix B. Additional recorded comments from public meetings can be found in Appendix E

5.1.1 Stakeholder Involvement

After consulting the Duchesne County Transportation District (DCSSD#2) on how to approach the various stakeholders for input, it was recommended that having all the stakeholders in the same room regularly would be difficult and would likely not provide the type of participation desired. It was recommended that after an initial kickoff meeting, it would be best to meet with the stakeholders individually to identify their needs and priorities.

An initial list of potential stakeholders was created with help from Duchesne County Community Development department. The first list of potential stakeholders included representatives from the cities and towns, USFS, BLM, SITLA, State Parks, the Ute Indian Tribe, the county recreation districts, and local trails committees and organizations. These initial stakeholders were invited to a kickoff meeting in April 2019 where the plan process and timelines were outlined. These stakeholders were also encouraged to help identify the others that would have a key role with trails in the county. At the end of the presentation, the attendees were given the opportunity to comment and draw on some maps of the county to identify trails needs in the county.

While the kickoff meeting was well attended, most of the information from the interested stakeholders was obtained in individual meetings that were scheduled after the kickoff meeting. Each stakeholder was contacted, and individual meetings were held to get a thorough understanding of the trail needs and priorities for each user group.

Once the initial kickoff meeting was held, the approach shifted to having regular updates about the plan via email. The people on the email list for the plan updates consisted of the stakeholders and any other members of the public that had expressed interest in receiving the updates and being informed of the progress of the plan.