December 2003 Agricultural and Resource Policy Report, No. 11 Page 1 Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1172 http://dare.colostate.edu/pubs Executive Summary Due to the predominant role of public lands in Moffat County, there is a clear need to better understand pub- lic land management issues in order to better inform local decision-making and to create strategies for Mof- fat County to thrive into the foreseeable future. Issues of access and appropriate use may be particularly con- tentious and the county’s economic base and lifestyle may be strongly affected, either directly or indirectly, by decisions made regarding the management and dis- position of public lands. One piece of information of interest and import to local and national decision-making are the perspectives of local stakeholders. We conducted a two page mail sur- vey of attitudes and uses of public lands among Moffat County residents. Survey respondents were asked about general and proposed changes in public lands within Moffat County, access, importance to the local economy, their current and projected uses of public lands, and their preferences for public lands in the county. The results of this survey are reported here. In addition to an overall public perspective, we hypothesize that there may be at least four distinct groups of opinions on these matters: 1) Moffat County residents who own significant amounts of land; 2) Residents who do not own substantial acreages; 3) Nonresidents with acreage; and 4) Nonresident nonlandowners. Overall, a majority of respondents see federal lands as important the Moffat County economy and tax base. That said, they feel the best way to make use of these PREFERRED PUBLIC LAND USE AND POLICY IN MOFFAT COUNTY: FINAL REPORT OF A COUNTYWIDE OPINION SURVEY 1 Tamara Todres, 2 Andrew Seidl, 3 Donald McLeod, 4 Amy Bittner, 5 Roger Coupal, 6 and Kate Inman 7 1 Paper findings are the result of research funded by USDA-NRI CGP grants # 99-35401-7742 as well as the Agricultural Experiment Station and Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, both at the University of Wyoming. Support from Cooperative Extension Service in Colorado and Wyoming as well as the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University are greatly appreci- ated. Cooperation from Moffat County in Colorado has made this work possible. 2 Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University. 3 Associate Professor and Extension Specialist—Public Policy, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University. Corresponding author. B309 Clark Building, CSU-DARE, Ft. Collins, CO, 80523-1172. T: 970-491-7071. E: Andrew.Seidl@colostate.edu 4 Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wyoming. 5 Former Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wyoming. 6 Associate Professor and Extension Specialist—Community Development, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Univer- sity of Wyoming. 7 Research Associate, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wyoming. Extension programs are available to all without discrimination. December 2003 ARPR 03-11