WORLAND – Washakie County commissioners will meet Tuesday to hear department reports, and review recommendations made by the county’s Wyoming Public Lands Initiative working group with Hot Springs County commissioners.

The original goal of the WPLI group was to reach a consensus as to the use of the wilderness study areas in the county, through public input. The primary areas of concentration in Washakie County include the Honeycombs (located between Ten Sleep and Worland), Cedar Mountain (south of Winchester and shared with Hot Springs County) and Bobcat Draw (in the northwest corner of the county, shared with Big Horn County).

Once committee recommendations have been formalized and approved by the county commission, the final recommendations of the WPLI will be sent to a federal delegation for introduction in the U.S. House and Senate in 2018.

No recommendations were be made by the commission in August, allowing more time for talks and a possible decision on Tuesday, when Hot Springs commissioners will present their recommendations for Cedar Mountain (the WSA shares a boundary with both Hot Springs and Washakie County).

Under the WPLI, all 23 Wyoming counties were invited to participate in the initiative, and each board of county commissioners decided if their county will join the effort. Each county participating then created a county advisory team, made up of members from agriculture, conservation, energy, recreation districts and county commissioners to review and designate the lands in their area.

The Washakie County Advisory Committee was comprised of representatives of non-motorized recreation, motorized recreation, agriculture and ranching, sportsmen, energy interests, conservation and environmental concerns, the local conservation district and the general public.

In other business, the commission will hear from County Attorney John Worrall and public defender Rich Hopkinson, regarding the new office space for the Public Defender’s Office.

In June, the county met with the Office of the Public Defender to discuss converting a county-owned property into office space for two full-time and one part time public defender and staff.

Under the proposal, the public defenders will be placed in offices formerly used by the Washakie Development Association, in the county’s Cloverleaf Complex on 15th Street.

Modification and renovation of the building began the second week of June.