By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

With public land access at the forefront of politicians’ minds on the federal, state and local levels, many bodies are looking to take action to keep these lands open to the public. In Emery County, this is no different. Emery County Commissioner Jordan Leonard joined the KOAL newsroom to speak on the steps the commission is taking to protect public lands, a recent donation to the Emery High graduation party and what’s coming up in Emery.

Opening our conversation, Leonard discussed the county’s junior entrepreneur program and the benefit he sees from participating,” I’m excited for the junior entrepreneurs that are getting trained to become entrepreneurial minded. It’s an awesome program. They presented in the commission meeting and talked to us about the businesses that they’re starting. They’re excited to go to different county events, sell their wares and get their services in front of the community. It’s a great program. We appreciate those that put it on.”

In addition to this presentation, the commissioners donated to the annual Emery High School graduation party. Leonard explained the rationale behind the move,” We want our kids to be safe on graduation night. I think we all know about different stories that happened on graduation night. We just want to make sure that we support the school district in their effort to have activities for the youth so that they stay out of trouble.” The commissioner added,” So we were able to donate to the graduation party. Some seniors presented, and I think it’s awesome that they have mentors, even at the school, who say, ‘Hey, come to the party. Let’s have a good time. Let’s stay out of trouble.’ So we’re very happy to support that party.”

Piggybacking off this topic, Leonard provided his biweekly shoutout for a department that goes above and beyond within the county – that being the Emery County School District. “The more we learn, the better we will be as a community. I just want to shout out to them for doing their best in this world we live in to educate our youth and be good mentors that our youth can look up to.”

The final meeting-based item covered by Commissioner Leonard was the commission’s signing of a resolution opposing solar technology being placed on state and federal lands within the county. “I think the key phrase for the community to know is multiple use. We’ve had a lot of discussion about our public lands with the BLM potentially looking at solar projects. So we want to protect our multiple use on our public lands. So, we passed a resolution not in favor of solar panels on BLM lands and state lands. There are potential small projects that might be coming down the pipe. But we want to ensure that we’re at the table and that it’s not impacting our grazers and other industries that use that land.”

The commissioner specified that many of the current solar projects within Emery County are on private lands, with a few projects on School and Institutional Trust lands.

Moving to upcoming events within the county, Leonard spoke excitedly about a few coming to Green River with the Green River Rocks and Green River Dirt Bike Rally. “Green River Rocks is a great event. They have people who guide you out there and tell stories. Then, there is the Dirt Bike Rally, which is a popular one. If you like to ride a dirt bike, go on a cruise around the Swell. There’s a lot of camaraderie there with those who like to ride dirt bikes. The weather will probably be a little warmer on the other side of the county. So it’s some good events to go out to.”

Rounding out the conversation, Leonard discussed the 2025 rendition of the Emery County Fair, which is set for the end of July: “There are a lot of cool events. And we’re trying to bring back the heritage of the fair and the things that we have been doing as a community for years and years, things like the Rodeo Queen Pageant.”

Leonard continued,” We also have Echoes from the Past, where people can visit historical sites. Then we have our Frontier Days, which brings back our history and heritage for different things we did during the pioneer times. And then we have the County Fair, where we get together as a community. So I’m excited about these pre-events leading up to the fair.”