Navajo Council supports Utah wilderness act
A legislative proposal for a decision on BLM wilderness in the Beehive State has been on the table in one form or another for 32 years.
One of America’s long lingering state wilderness proposals recently drew support of an important ally, the Navajo Nation Council.
America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, first proposed for Utah’s Bureau of Land Management lands in 1989, is still percolating away before Congress. The history of the process dates to 1976, when Congress told the BLM and other federal land holders to make an inventory of lands suitable for wilderness designation.
Suitable BLM lands were held in limbo called “wilderness study areas,” which is suppose to prevent them from being degraded until Congress decides what to do with them.
Each state’s congressional delegation normally guides the decision process, primarily in the 11 Western states and Alaska, where BLM has most of its holdings.
States can pursue decisions for BLM wilderness in big or little bites. California took the biggest steps: first in 1984 for national forest lands and then in 1994 for BLM lands, with the California Desert Protection Act.
Utah, Nevada and Oregon have the most BLM lands that await a decision by Congress.
Since Utah’s Republican leadership is usually against wilderness designation, and because the state hasn’t elected a democratic senator since 1970, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, has been the Senate sponsor of the Utah wilderness legislation since 1997.
Lands proposed for wilderness designation are mainly in southeast Utah and the state’s West Desert, as shown in brown on this map. (BTW, the Great Salt Lake now is less than half the size shown on this map due to water diversion for development and drought in the fastest growing state.)
Will the Navajo stamp of approval be the dynamic that pushes the legislation over the line? Certainly not if it faces filibuster in the Senate.
The usual way to get land protection bills through Congress these days is to put many proposals from a number of states together that have wide national support, or attach them to other “must pass” legislation.
These Utah lands being pushed for preservation as wilderness have some shining highlights, but the best of the best has already been protected as national parks, wilderness or other designation.
What these remaining lands represent is a test: Will Utah, America and international corporate conglomerates continue their voracious appetite for chasing every dollar buried deep in the ground, or will they back off and let future generations decide what is the best use of these lands?
The changing climate and ongoing 20-year drought on southern Utah’s Colorado Plateau amplifies the importance of land preservation decisions.
Congress could protect the lands now, and Congress could open them up far in the future, if a new better use comes along — and if Congress is still making those kind of decisions.
European settlers arrived in Utah 175 years ago next year. What will Utah look like in another 175 years? No one knows, but it’s likely to look much better if these lands are left undesecrated.
(Photos below taken near roads with surrounding lands potential wilderness designations).