Current Issues
We work with some of the greatest people, in the greatest places, that have the greatest challenges. We help communities meet these challenges by doing the right project at the right time for the right reasons. Our goal is to become the most sought-after resource for rural communities in the Intermountain West because of our thought leadership and project outcomes.
Don’t Let Your RMP Become A Doll
Do you know anyone who collects porcelain dolls? These aren’t dolls that are important to children, these are artifacts that adorn a shelf. Your resource management plan is not a porcelain doll. Taking your plan off the shelf is the right thing to do because plan utilization means reliable implementation and long-term success. If your […]
Read More >Hi! We’re Rural Community Consultants
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Op-ed: Utah’s public lands are more complicated than we think
Originally published in the Deseret News, December 22, 2017 Recognizing the unsurpassable beauty of Zion Canyon, civil engineer Leo Snow surveyed the canyon and then recommended it to the federal government to become a national monument in 1909. President William Howard Taft designated about 16,000 acres, and later that was expanded to 146,597 acres. Snow, […]
Read More >It’s Also What’s Beneath the Surface
I was on the road the other day, and drove by a reminder that the things beneath the surface are as important as the things we see. How often do we look at the elements of our community and judge the effectiveness of them by the part we understand and experience directly? Consider the health […]
Read More >When to Get a Planning Consultant
One of the most predictable things I experience is the reaction of someone who asks what I do for a living. When I say that I work with a company that helps local government leaders, the response inevitably includes…
Read More >Is the “Resource Curse” a Curse?
After finishing my 800th article about the economic impact of the extraction industry in the West, I’ve come to the conclusion that the “resource curse” is…
Read More >Five Ways to Ruin Your Roads
Every small town has the same heartache: roads. Roads don’t have a local user fee to pay for themselves like water and wastewater infrastructure can. Roads need constant maintenance. Roads are a visible asset and influence the perception of a town. The compounding problem for rural governments is they sometimes maintain just as many square […]
Read More >Supporting a Community’s Cultural Capital
Local government is essentially a business (a monopoly, but still…). Like a business, we believe that success in creating and implementing in a vision in a small town or rural county requires capital investment. However, unlike most businesses, various kinds of capital exist in a community…
Read More >Citizenship in the County Merit Badge
If you are a county commissioner in Utah, this merit badge will be totally easy for you! We are so excited to be exhibiting at the Utah Association of Counties conference in St George this week. If you are attending UAC, stop by and be recognized for your service to the county. The requirements are […]
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