This is a post from "Great Old Broads for Wilderness" a group that works to
save our precious wild lands all over the US. It concerns a proposal to
sell off public land in southern Utah. Delete if you're not interested,
but please read if you are concerned about loss of public lands in the west --
this is an issue that will be of increasing concern in the coming
years, I believe.
Subject: Fw: Wild Utah Redrock Report: March 24, 2006
Four Corners Broads and Friends,
Please consider contacting our Congressional delegation and urging
open hearings in Utah on this proposal for our public lands in
Washington County, UT! Details below courtesy of the Southern Utah Wilderness
Alliance.
"We can never forget the power of impassioned voices telling their story,
bearing witness, speaking out on behalf of the land." Terry Tempest
Williams
===================================================================================================== This
alert is brought to you by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance 425 E. 100
S., Salt Lake City, UT 84111, 801-486-3161, www.suwa.org
Senator Bennett proposes
legislation undermining America’s Red Rock Wilderness and the Zion-Mojave proposed
wilderness;
SUWA calls for public hearings. You should too.
Wednesday in
St.
George, Utah, Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) released a legislative
proposal for WashingtonCounty on
behalf of the local county commissioners that would make significant changes to the landscape
of southwestern Utah.
Washington County
is one of the most spectacular and biodiverse landscapes in the West. It also
happens to be the fifth-fastest growing county in the United States.
This bill fuels the growth by adding water, road, and utility corridors and 40
square miles of new development land sold out of the public estate. And it
leaves over 70% of the proposed Zion-Mojave wilderness on the chopping
block.
SUWA and other
conservationists were largely excluded from the development
of this legislation. We were not allowed to see either the proposal language or
the maps until Wednesday. But now that we have, we're extremely
disappointed.
The county
commissioners' proposal is a developer's dream that will harm wilderness and
wildlife and fuel faster growth and sprawl in the St. George area. Among other
elements:
It is a huge
loss for wilderness.
* The commissioners
want to leave almost 70% of the proposed BLM Zion-Mojave wilderness on the
chopping block, including lands that the BLM found to qualify as
wilderness.
* It rolls back
protection that's been in place for over ten square miles of
Congressionally-protected Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs.)
* Taking a page from
the playbook of former Representative Jim Hansen, the commisioners tried
to obscure the loss with largely meaningless National Park Service wilderness.
(Well over half of the proposed wilderness acreage is in Zion National
Park.)
It will put
St. George growth on steroids.
* It sells off 40
square miles of public land for private development.
* It
gives water developers money from the sale of these public lands for the
construction of water development pipelines and
reservoirs.
* It
gives water developers free of charge approximately 14
square miles of public land for water development.
* It allows the damming of the free-flowing stream in the
Beaver Dam Narrows.
* It permits a new bypass highway to be constructed
through public land previously set aside to protect desert tortoises.
It
will make ORV problems worse.
* It mandates a new ORV trail system with money from sale of public
lands, while doing nothing to control already uncontrolled ORV use.
What Lies
Ahead:
We hope to
work with Senator Bennett to create good legislation that
provides meaningful protections for Utah’s wilderness areas. But we are also
prepared to fight and stop the county commissioner’s proposal if that does not
happen
With so much at risk, and given that the
public has just learned what the local politicians have proposed, Senator Bennett needs to provide adequate time for the
public to respond.The vast public
lands at stake deserve better than a rush job.There should
be public hearings held in multiple locations across
Utah so that all residents will have the
chance to give their input.
We will stay in
touch and let you know what you can do to help protect a critical piece of
America’s Red Rock Wilderness known as the Zion-Mojave proposed
wilderness.
What You Can Do:
If you live in
Utah, you can help by contacting your members of Congress and
letting them know that you want public hearings in
Salt Lake
City and other
locations before legislation is acted on. If you live outside
Utah, contact your own members of the Senate and House to let
them know you are concerned about federal public land in
Utah and want them to vigilantly protect the wilderness
there.
Since our early days as a
small locally-based advocacy group, SUWA has remained a lean issues-focused
organization with low overhead costs and a commitment to on-the-ground
wilderness protection.
Nearly 80% of our funding
comes from individual donations from concerned citizens like you. PLEASE JOIN
SUWA TODAY and participate in one of the nation's most effective forces for
wilderness protection.
