Published on February 8th, 2021
For 32 years, environmental advocates have sought to designate as wilderness 9 million acres of unspoiled public land in Utah. Even though the concept of the Red Rock Wilderness Act was first introduced as a 1989 bill by a Democratic representative in the state, it got no traction from Utah’s mostly Republican congressional delegation then, or in the decades since, as other lawmakers have introduced versions of the original bill.
A slice of public land that would be designated wilderness by the Red Rock Wilderness Act.
By Meteor Blades
In the last session of Congress, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and California Rep. Alan Lowenthal proposed establishing wilderness areas in the Great Basin, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Glen Canyon, Moab-La Sal Canyons, and the San Rafael Swell. Given the Biden-Harris administration’s “30 by 30” pledge to conserve 30% of U.S. land and coastal areas by 2030, the Red Roc
SALT LAKE CITY A new report issued Thursday by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance says passing America s Red Rock Wilderness Act, which would protect millions more acres of land in Utah, could help mitigate the impacts of climate change and stem the loss of animal species and biodiversity.
Passing the act would be a big step toward meeting the goals of the 30x30 Campaign to Save Nature, the report says, which aims to protect 30% of the earth s lands and oceans by 2030 in an effort to limit the planet s temperature increase.
In a Thursday presentation from the Wilderness Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, SUWA board member Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk said America s Red Rock Wilderness Act presents an extraordinary opportunity.
Wikipedia
President Biden has issued an executive order placing an indefinite moratorium on new leases for oil and gas development on federal lands. Proponents of the moratorium say it’s a positive step and that previous lease sales on federal lands have harmed some of the West’s most cherished landscapes and slowed the nation’s shift to clean energy. Opponents argue that the moratorium will further harm already hard-hit economies with an outsized impact on rural areas. We’ll talk about it on Tuesday’s Access Utah. Our guests will include Sen. Ronald Winterton, R-Roosevelt; and Steve Bloch, Legal Director with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Appeals court holds wilderness advocates are entitled to participate in lawsuits over 12,500 routes.
(Photo courtesy of Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance) Fourmile Canyon/Last Chance Road, also known as K7300 in Kane County, is one of 15 bellwether routes at issue in a three-weeklong trial in U.S. District Court in 2020. Judge Clark Waddoups is expected to render decisions this year that will guide resolution to Utah s claims to 12,500 other routes crossing public lands, but a recent appeals court ruling could enable wilderness advocates to intervene in these lawsuits and drag the proceedings out for years.
| Feb. 1, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
Utah leaders initiated a series of lawsuits in 2012 aimed at taking ownership of thousands of routes crossing federal land under an obscure Frontier-era law known as RS2477.