Dixie Forum to host lecture on Utah public lands

Dixie Forum to host lecture on Utah public lands

Dixie State University’s weekly lecture series Dixie Forum: A Window on the World will continue its fall lineup with a discussion on the constitutional basis for the transfer of public lands. Bill Howell, retired executive director of the Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments, will present at noon on Oct. 24 in the Dunford Auditorium, located in the Browning Resource Center on the Dixie State campus. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to attend. Howell is the principle author of “Statehood: The Territorial Imperative,” which served as the basis for House Bill 148: Transfer of Public Lands Act and Related Study and the associated Joint Resolution on Federal Transfer of Public Lands that the Utah State Legislature passed in 2012. HB 148 required that Congress transfer the title of specified public lands to Utah for improved local land management rather than being held and managed as federal public lands. The Dixie Forum lecture led by Howell will discuss the constitutionally based federal trust obligation with respect to public lands. This examination begins with the Magna Carta of 1215 and ends with passage of the Utah Enabling Act compact of 1894. Along the way, the discussion will touch upon the Declaration of Independence, the Resolution of Congress of 1780, the Articles of Confederation of 1781, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the Federalist Papers of 1787-88. Dixie Forum is a weekly lecture series designed to introduce the St. George and Dixie State communities to diverse ideas and personalities while widening their worldviews via a 50-minute presentation. Coming up, Dixie Forum will host Craig Harline, professor of history at Brigham Young University, as he lectures on the anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 theses at noon on Oct. 31 in the Dunford Auditorium. For more information about Dixie State University’s Dixie Forum series, contact Forum Coordinator John Burns at 435-879-4712 or burns@utahtech.edu or visit humanities.utahtech.edu/the-dixie-forum.