It seems to us that the person designated to act as a liaison among the state, the counties and federal land management agencies should be able to do so with some objectivity, with some interest in protecting public lands as well as maintaining appropriate multiple uses. Stevens' public lands views are rigidly anti-environmental and anti-federal.

So we are not sorry to see that Stevens is resigning. And we urge the governor to find someone to replace him who has less of a personal ax to grind. Courting the favor of rural counties should be less important to the governor than obtaining a balanced state policy on public-land use.

Stevens is chairman of the San Juan County Commission. County officials in rural Utah have long fought for public lands access, despite concerns of many groups that unfettered access by all-terrain vehicles threatens the recreational value, wildlife habitat and watersheds in these areas.

Stevens once characterized a Dan Jones and Associates poll that showed 73 percent of respondents fear that ATV use is damaging public land as a "publicity stunt."

Stevens' recent spat with the Navajo Tribal Council over ATV use of Arch Canyon, an area rich in American Indian artifacts and a sacred place to Navajos, is one example of Stevens' narrow-minded view. Despite the fact that Arch Canyon is Bureau of Land Management land, Stevens repeatedly contended that a trail into the canyon is a "county road." He also questioned whether Navajos should have any voice on issues outside the Navajo Reservation in San Juan County, where Native Americans make up more than half the population.

It was Stevens who advised Huntsman on his irresponsible decision to allow development of roadless areas in federal forests under a Bush administration rule giving jurisdiction to the states. If a federal court had not overturned the Bush rule, Huntsman's plan would have opened up thousands of acres of pristine public land to oil and gas drilling, ATV use and logging.

Lynn Stevens got Huntsman's public lands policy office off to a bad start. A better-qualified successor might finally get it on track.