Cedar Mountain Wilderness -- Photo by Lawson LeGate
The National Utah Wilderness Team’s primary goal is to continue support of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act (ARRWA). ARRWA would protect over 8 million acres of wilderness in Utah through Congressional wilderness designation.
Our team’s goal is to maintain current cosponsors and increase co-sponsorships for ARRWA in the House and Senate for the 119th congress to at least 25 senators and 100 representatives for 2025.
Protecting these lands is essential for conservation goals for the entire country. Our goal is to raise awareness and take actions to protect these important lands and the environment. We will work with all parties concerned to sustain Utah’s unique beauty for all generations to come.
Our core team members reside across the United States, allowing us to engage with our elected representatives in multiple states.
Tell Congress: Protect the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument!
Congress could soon vote to undermine protections for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This would overturn the current Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument Management Plan, and constitutes a serious threat with implications for all national monuments and their respective management plans.
Designated in 1996, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument protects nearly 1.9 million acres of extraordinary landscapes in southern Utah -- home to towering stone arches, winding slot canyons, dinosaur fossils, and cultural and archaeological sites of deep importance to Native American Tribes. It is a sanctuary for wildlife, a place of dark skies and quiet, and is enjoyed by around a million visitors each year.
Today, the monument is guided by a comprehensive management plan shaped through years of public input from Tribal nations, local and state leaders, ranchers, recreationists, and conservation groups. This plan prioritizes protecting the monument's ecological integrity and cultural heritage while supporting traditional uses and sustainable visitation.
Lawmakers are attempting to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to revoke the monument's management plan--a dangerous and unprecedented move. This Congress has already begun using the CRA to overturn Bureau of Land Management resource plans and to attempt to allow toxic mining in the watershed of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This would be the first-ever use of the CRA to attack a national monument -- setting a troubling precedent for public lands across the country.
Call your member of the U.S. House of Representatives urging them to vote NO on this reckless resolution and defend Grand Staircase-Escalante.
SAMPLE CALL SCRIPT
Phone calls are consistently ranked as a top way to persuade a member of Congress who hasn’t come to a firm position. Staffers count these calls and make reports on how many they receive.
Dial (202) 224-3121 to be connected to your representative.
- Identify yourself as a constituent.
- “Hi, my name is ______ and I live in ______, my zip code is ______.”
- Be specific.
- “I join the vast majority of Americans who love public lands and waters. That is why I was extremely disappointed to see Representative ________’s recent vote to strip protections from the watershed of the Boundary Waters wilderness. As a member of the Public Lands Caucus, Representative ________ must support protection of cherished places so that future generations can continue to enjoy them as we do today. I urge Representative ________ to change course and vote NO on the resolution to overturn the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument management plan.”
- Be personal.
- “I love visiting public lands because…”
- “Giving away public lands to corporate polluters concerns me because…”
- “Supporting the protection of public lands is important to me because…”
- Follow the ABCs
- Be accurate, be brief, and be courteous.
