craig daily pressWednesday ❖ January 29, 2014

Daily Press senDs letter to secretary of interior, see Page 20

Vol. 113, No. 118 www.craigdailypress.com

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pilT on Farm Bill may help

moffatBy ERIN FENNER

daily press writer

Craig — Compromises on the Farm Bill could mean good news for Moffat County’s bud-get.

The Farm Bill is expected to pass the U.S. House and Senate.

PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) funding was attached to the United States Farm Bill as part of compromises to move the legislation forward, much to the relief of Moffat County Commissioner Chuck Grobe.

“We knew it was being con-nected to the Farm Bill but we weren’t 100 percent sure it would,” he said. “It was a compromised agreement, so there’s a 99 percent chance” it will pass.

PILT monies compensate counties for the federal land within their limits. Public lands cannot be taxed, so the federal government pays PILT so counties can maintain the infrastructure on those lands.

“We have to keep the roads up through these fed lands,” Grobe said. “But we don’t get any income to maintain the roads. So (PILT funding) is in lieu of taxes.”

Moffat County receives about $550,000 in PILT money in 2013, although that number varies from year to year. That money goes directly to the Road and Bridge Department.

PILT funding is about 9 percent of the Road and Bridge Department’s budget, said Mindy Curtis, director

By ANDy BOCKELMANdaily press writer

Craig — The best way to learn about the world around you is to get out there and experience it, an approach that gave some Craig students the time of their lives.

Earlier this month, teachers from Ridgeview Elementary School took 20 students rang-ing from third to fifth grade on a special field trip focused on ecology and outdoor science. Traveling to Granby’s Snow Mountain Ranch with YMCA of the Rockies, kids were given the chance to participate in numerous indoor and outdoor activities while learning also about nature.

Ridgeview teachers Jennifer

Stagner, Tyler Loyd and Rhonda Counts supervised the students for the trip, which Counts noted was funded primarily by dona-tions from Kawcak Inc. and Quicksilver Resources Inc.

“The fact that we were able to do it without using any dis-trict money was pretty huge,” Counts said.

The kids who attended — who were selected randomly from a list of applicants because of a limited availability — also paid a small fee for the activities,

which included snowshoeing, archery, roller-skating, climbing walls and other fun stuff.

Students were also engaged in educational opportunities about winter survival, pioneering, topography and other subjects.

Among the things learned by fourth-graders Logan Hafey, Emily Moore, Mc Kinley Winkler, Alec Tucker and Brooklynn Ray — all of whom are part of Candi Hellander’s class at Ridgeview — were how plants subsist in the cold, which are safe to eat, animal hiberna-tion and tracking, using a com-pass and how to make their own shelters in case of emergency, creating snow caves by digging with plastic shovels.

Moore said science is her favorite subject in school and

being out in nature let her enjoy it even more, although she was somewhat surprised when she learned a raccoon had nabbed her water bottle.

“We just found it like that, but it drank all the water,” she said.

Science is also the preferred subject for Winkler.

“I’m a big fan of science, and when I grow up I want to be a scientist that explores all nature,” she said.

The length of the two-night trip was an adventure for stu-dents who have rarely gone far from Craig or Moffat County.

“I wanted to try something new because I really don’t like getting away from home,

nAte wAggenspACk/dAily press

sTelios peroulis pushes For a piN Tuesday at Moffat County High school. peroulis and the Bulldogs hosted Meeker in a wrestling dual that the Cowboys won, 54-30. peroulis got his pin midway through the third period to pick up six points for the Bulldogs. read more on page 9.

WrEStlINg WarrIorS

The great outdoors

See pilT on page 2

students learn survival and science through practical application“I’m a big fan of science, and when I grow up I want to be a scientist that explores all

nature.”McKinley Winkler

Ridgeview Elementary School fourth-grader

See ouTdoors on page 2