Written by Mikayla Shoup
St George News

ST. GEORGE — The Bureau of Land Management recently purchased a $5 million parcel of land from a private landowner in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.

The Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, Washington County, Utah.
Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management, St. George News

The purchase of the 113-acre property, located within the boundaries of both the Washington County Mojave desert tortoise mitigation reserve and the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, was closed on Aug. 15.

The purchase was made as part of the BLM’s efforts to consolidate land within the conservation area. Currently, the land is under “checkboard ownership,” meaning that the conservation area is owned by a number of private parties and government agencies.

“What we’re looking at doing is to consolidate the land ownership within the Red Cliffs NCA, which allows for us to continue the conservation stewardship and partnership with local communities, specifically Washington County,” BLM spokesperson Christian Venhuizen told St. George News.

According to the agency, having the land belong to multiple sources can make it more difficult to successfully protect the habitat of the Mojave desert tortoise, which was placed on the Federal Endangered Species List in 1989.

Currently, the BLM owns nearly 45,000 acres of the over 61,000-acre conservation area, while over 13,000 acres are owned by the state and 2,631 acres are still owned by private parties, according to the BLM’s annual manager’s report.

In 2016, the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area Record of Decision and Resource Management Plan made it so that the BLM could legally acquire private inholdings from willing property owners in order to better conserve the habitat. This can be done through trade or by purchase at market value from willing landowners.

“We’re able to ensure that the stewardship and the values within the national conservation area is maintained and provide for the resources,” Venhuizen said.

The Red Cliffs National Conservation Area was first established in 2009 as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 with the intention of providing a safe habitat for the tortoises and to give the community an outdoor recreation area.

The $5 million parcel was purchased using money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is allowed through a recent reauthorization in the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act in March.

Bi-partisan legislation has been introduced in both the House and the Senate that would make recreation on public lands a higher priority for the federal government. S. 1967, introduced in the Senate by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and H.R. 3458, introduced in the House by Reps. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) would do the following:

Simplifies procedures for the issuance of recreational permits by setting time limits for the processing of such permits; reduces fees; mandates online purchases; and provides for the issuance of a single joint permit for multijurisdictional trips
Directs federal land agencies to make recreation a priority when making land and water management decisions
Encourages the use of volunteers in trail maintenance including the creation of uniform interagency trail maintenance standards for trails the cross agency jurisdictional boundaries
Seeks to enhance coordination between federal and state recreation agencies and allows for the purchase of a state(s) and federal recreation pass with one transaction
This legislation is widely supported by a diverse group of recreation organizations, motorized and non-motorized, including ARRA. Despite this strong support, it’s critical that we secure more co-sponsors for the legislation in both the House and Senate. Will you do your part by writing to your Representative and your Senators requesting their co-sponsorship of these respective bills?

The ARRA Action Center makes it easy for you to reach out to Congress. Take a few minutes now and send an important message to your elected representatives on Capitol Hill.

Respond Here

The Natural Resources Management Act was passed by the Senate the morning of February 12, 2019.

It’s not too late to stop it in the House, and we encourage motorized and mechanized (bicycle) users to contact their representatives to say they oppose restricting access around the San Rafael Swell.

The main reason Emery County Commissioners and Governor Herbert support the bill is it consolidates over 64,000 acres of School Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA) property that is currently spread out across Emery County. Developing the consolidated land could generate at least $50 million. Such consolidation has been achieved many other times without having to designate 10 acres of wilderness for every 1 acre of SITLA land, which is what happened here.

We feel that the Governor’s and Commissioners’ support of the bill is very short sighted, because putting over 642,000 acres around the San Rafael Swell into Wilderness designation will close 73 miles of county Class D primitive roads plus other motorized trails. The loss of future OHV revenue from these 642,000 acres dwarfs the one-time revenue of $50 million from consolidating those other 64,000 acres. Decision makers likely undervalued the 642,000 acres and 73 miles because they didn’t consider the OHV revenue potential.

The San Rafael Swell is a beautiful area. The land is rugged and vast, with historic travel routes winding through magnificent mesas. For many years, it has been enjoyed by families traveling by horse, 4x4s, ATVs, bikes, and foot. Travel in the San Rafael Swell is currently restricted to “Designated Routes Only” so it is already legally protected. Wilderness is restricted to “Non-mechanized Use Only” and thus limits access to only elite hikers.

For a more detailed analysis of the bill, go to www.SageRidersMC.com/land-use-issues.html.

On February 11th, 2019, Senator Mike Lee wrote an article for the Deseret News titled “This bill is not the right move for Utah lands.” Here are a few key points Senator Lee Makes in that article:

The bill fails to reform federal land acquisition programs, and reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) which has not been implemented consistent with the original intention of the fund.

The bill adds new restrictions on land already under federal control and protection.

The bill creates another 1.3 million acres of Wilderness in the West, over half [642,000 acres] in Utah.

Wilderness designation limits far more activities than required to actually protect the land.

Wilderness designation prohibits almost all activity, including all commercial activity, all infrastructure development, and any travel by car or bicycle.

This bill does nothing to address the imminent threat to Utah from unilateral executive land grabs through the Antiquities Act. Other western states have this protection. All that would have been required to provide Utah the same protection would be adding Utah to the list of protected States.

Please consider joining the Utah Public Lands Alliance. You can show your support for keeping public lands open by joining UPLA. UPLA will continue updating status of this bill here online.

Remember, “United We Stand!”

The extension follows the current road for the most part. Construction will involve some closures, so access points may shift a little. Stay tuned for updates.

ST. GEORGE – Victor Iverson is replacement commissioner for Denny Drake. Commissioner Drake is retiring a few months early to serve on an LDS mission. Commissioner Iverson was nominated as the republican candidate for the replacement seat this spring, and appointed as Drake’s temporary replacement by the republican chair. He will run for election in November. UPLA has met with him, and he is very well informed on the land use issues, especially regarding the proposed land exchange in Sand Mountain SRMA. We look forward to working with him, and wish him success in his new position.