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In the Summer 2000, environmentalists fought off attempts by Utah's Congressional delegation to weaken protections for West Desert/San Rafael Swell, but foe Representative Jim Hansen (R-UT) is now heading resources committee. Volunteers are working with the BLM to build fences to keep out ORVs. The state of Utah abounds with wilderness. In fact, more than 9 million acres in the state qualify as official wilderness under federal law, and steps are being taken to make this designation a reality. Nowhere else in the lower 48 states can so much intact wilderness be found. This is a land of layer-cake sedimentary geology where ancient sand dunes form massive cliffs and domes that range starkly in color, from white to deep, brick red. Here, the great Colorado and Green Rivers have sliced deep, broad canyons through the yielding sandstone. Ephemeral streams have cut slot canyons so narrow you can touch both sides with outstretched arms. The pliant sedimentary rock has eroded into fantastic shapes, creating formations like the San Rafael Reef, Comb Ridge and the Cockscomb. Granitic remnants of magma chambers have been uplifted through the overlying sedimentary layers to form tall, isolated mountain ranges such as the Henry Mountains. Farther north, bisected by the Green River in Desolation Canyon, are the impossibly crenelated highs and lows of the Book Cliffs and the plateaus that form their backdrop. Despite its forbidding appearance, the wildlands of Utah are home to an array of native wildlife species. Large mammals roam the landscape, including mountain lions, pronghorn antelope, elk, bison and bighorn sheep. The Utah wilderness hosts at least two dozen endangered or sensitive wildlife species that require specialized desert habitat. They include the Gila monster, chuckwalla and desert tortoise in the hot southwest corner of the state and the bald eagle, peregrine falcon and endangered fish species of the Colorado, Green and Virgin Rivers. Scientists estimate that 180 of Utah's plant species are currently classified as endangered, threatened or sensitive. Utah's wilderness offers more than biological value. Because of its unique beauty and recreational opportunities, the state has become a hot spot for tourism. Utah's economy is among the strongest in the nation; technology and tourism are among the largest and most important economic activities, far exceeding extractive industries such as mining, oil and gas development, and timber production. But Utah is also unmatched in the political influence wielded by resource-extraction industries. Oil and gas drilling looms over these remote wildlands. Oil conglomerates threaten the solitude offered by the region's slickrock canyons, and range development continues to cut into the wilderness. Some land managers still believe in a practice known as chaining -- dragging an enormous ship-anchor chain fastened between two bulldozers across woodlands of pinyon and juniper trees, in hopes of providing more forage for livestock grazing. Chaining in these fragile arid landscapes can be devastating. An ever-growing threat to the wild character of desert wildlands in Utah comes from off-road vehicles (ORVs). Some ORV enthusiasts insist on pushing their machines farther and farther into isolated canyons and mountain ranges. They are aided by local anti-wilderness politicians who attempt to assert official rights-of-way across wild areas in efforts to damage them enough to disqualify them from consideration as federal wilderness. Though declining in importance, mining continues to threaten the wildlands of Utah as well. Coal leases and hard-rock "claims" abound. It was the threat of a large coal mine on the Kaiparowits Plateau just north of the Arizona border that inspired President Clinton to establish the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996. Other threats to the wild integrity of the land include dams, power lines, road construction, and illegal wood-cutting. There is overwhelming support across the country to protect Utah's wilderness. As a result, bills to designate official wilderness have gained support over the years. But the industrial users of the land have managed to maintain a firm grip on legislators, which leads to bills that fall drastically short in the amount of acreage proposed for protection, and in the level of protection they offer. As a result, no bill has been passed, leaving millions of acres of irreplaceable wilderness up for grabs. The solution to preserving these precious wildlands is official wilderness designation. Designation will restrict allowable uses, forever protecting sensitive and unspoiled areas from new development, new mining claims, logging and roadbuilding, and mechanized transport. Moreover, preservation of wilderness will contribute significantly to Utah's already healthy economy by preserving the unique beauty that is the basis of the growing tourist industry. The battle for Utah wilderness has persisted for decades -- since the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in 1976 directed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conduct an inventory of potential wilderness areas. The original inventory fell far short of what wilderness advocates knew to be eligible, so citizens conducted their own inventory. By 1990 they had identified 5.7 million acres of wilderness quality areas that should be recommended to Congress as additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Efforts to pass comprehensive Utah wilderness bills in Congress have been ongoing, though debate persists over how much land actually qualifies. In 1998, citizen activists completed their second round of inventories, using updated scientific methods, and with a much better appreciation of the biological importance of Utah wildlands. The citizen "reinventory" removed from the original citizen inventory unprotected lands that had been scarred by development. They also identified more than 3 million additional acres that qualified for wilderness designation, bringing the total to over 9.1 million acres. Even the BLM has increased its estimate of land qualifying as wilderness, confirming what wilderness advocates already knew, and opening the door for protecting even more Utah wilderness areas. Utah wilderness advocates can now develop and find broad support for a proposal that truly reflects the full, diverse range of Utah's last remaining wilderness lands. As former U.S. Representative Wayne Owens explained, "To paraphrase John Muir, anyone can destroy a wilderness...But only God can create a wilderness -- and only wise government and wise laws can preserve it. What we now elect to save in Utah over the next few years of discussion, will always remain. What we neglect to protect can never be recovered." More information on Utah Wilderness. For more information, contact: Lawson Legate lawson.legate@sierraclub.org Melanie Griffin melanie.griffin@sierraclub.org Photo courtesy Tom Till National Wildlands | SPARE Report Main Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
