Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

Who should control our public lands?

8:56 am

On Monday, Arizona’s conservative Governor Jan Brewer surprised observers by vetoing legislation that demanded that the federal government surrender control of millions of acres of public land in the Grand Canyon state.

But in Utah, Governor Herbert recently signed a similar bill demanding that the federal government give up control of Utah’s public lands — and the state has earmarked $3 million for its defense.

And just last week, the state of Utah filed a series of lawsuits to try and gain title over thousands of miles of so-called “roads” — most are overgrown trails — that would allow the state to destroy Utah’s wild lands forever.

Will you take a moment right now to ask President Obama to stand up against Utah’s out-of-control governor and legislature?

Tell President Obama: Speak Out against Utah’s land grab.

In Arizona, Governor Brewer pointed out what many have been saying about similar “land grab” bills — that beyond being unconstitutional, they are bad news for the economy and stability of western states.

“I am concerned about the lack of certainty this legislation could create for individuals holding existing leases on federal lands,” Brewer said in a statement. “Given the difficult economic times, I do not believe this is the time to add to that uncertainty.”

But in Utah, Governor Herbert seems determined to add to the uncertainty. He’s launched a multi-front war to try and gain state control of the federal public lands that belong to all of us. From his bill in the legislature to his lawsuits in the courts, he’ll stop at nothing to complete his War on the West.

Tell President Obama to stand up to Governor Herbert.

Western governors like Jan Brewer are backing away from Governor Herbert’s radical agenda; at a recent “Western Roundtable” that Herbert hosted in Salt Lake City, only 2 out of 10 western governors showed up — and neither of them would commit to following Herbert’s lead.

But that doesn’t make Herbert’s agenda any less dangerous. As last week’s lawsuits show, he’s willing to increase his attacks on federal public lands even as others back away.

We need to hear from President Obama that his administration will fight Governor Herbert’s attempt to gain control of federal lands.

Please, take a moment and ask President Obama to speak out against what’s happening in Utah.

Click here to contact President Obama today.

Thank you for everything you do to protect Utah’s wilderness and the right of all Americans to enjoy our public lands.

Roads are a family value?

9:29 am

A claimed route in the Bridger Jack Mesa proposed wilderness. Copyright Ray Bloxham/SUWA.


For Utah families, life is filled with questions about the future.  How is my child doing in school?  Is he/she getting enough individual attention?  How do I save for college, for retirement, for that vacation we’ve dreamed about?  How do we get quality time together in a world with endless pressures and demands?

Utah families don’t mull these questions and conclude that the answer is to rip apart Utah’s wilderness with tens of thousands of bogus road claims. Only Governor Gary Herbert does that.

Tell Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that roads to nowhere are not a family value!

In a jaw-droppingly tone deaf press conference on Tuesday, Utah Chief Deputy Attorney General John Swallow claimed that the thousands of gullies, cow paths and dry washes Utah has claimed as highways “. . . do go somewhere and we need to make sure they are safe enough to provide access to Utah’s families and resources.”

Families?  The State of Utah is prepared to spend millions litigating faint desert tracks through Utah’s wilderness, but it would blanch at the thought of spending that money on education.

Tell Sec. Salazar to defend our land against Utah’s bogus road claims!

If these Utah politicians really cared about families, they would know that now, more than ever, we need our wild lands protected.  They are places where we can reconnect with our children, away from the lure of technology – places where we can tell stories around a campfire and try to name the stars.

Utah seeks these rights-of-way to prevent wilderness from being protected.  It’s that simple, and that awful.  They are seeking to destroy our children’s wilderness heritage.  We can’t let that happen.

Tell Sec. Salazar that paving our last great wild places is not good for families.

Protest tomorrow (Fri) at the Governor’s mansion!

2:10 pm

Join us at the Governor’s mansion on Friday — tell Governor Herbert he needs to STOP his attacks on Utah wilderness and the environment!

Tomorrow Governor Herbert is hosting several western governors at the Governor’s mansion to convince them that they should follow Utah’s example and try to take over federal lands and sell them off for private development, roads, mines and oil and gas drilling.

If you care about Utah’s wild lands and are appalled by Governor Herbert’s ongoing attempts to undermine their protection – JOIN US!

When: Noon – tomorrow (Friday, April 27) as Governor Herbert hosts four western governors to tout his anti-environmental policies

Where: The Governor’s Mansion, 603 East South Temple

What: Protest Governor Herbert’s anti-environmental policies and bring a sign (we’ll have some for folks too)

Governor Herbert has declared war on Utah’s environment with multiple attacks including:

  • threatening to take over 30 million acres of our public land
  • pushing for destructive tar sands development
  • suing the United States over 25,000 bogus road claims
  • pushing new ski development in the Wasatch Mountains
  • ignoring Salt Lake City’s air quality problems
  • blocking new wilderness protection
  • endorsing Rio Tinto’s mine expansion
  • helping his friends put a coal mine next to Bryce Canyon National Park

Please join us tomorrow at noon and make your voice heard!  You can RSVP by clicking here.

Dark road ahead

1:29 pm

Close your eyes and picture a highway. It’s probably paved and graded, a corridor for station wagons and minivans. It has a shoulder, lanes, a speed limit. In short, it looks nothing like this:

RS2477 claim in Capitol Reef National Park

But to Gov. Gary Herbert and the State of Utah, this beautiful rocky channel in Capitol Reef National Park is a road—one of more than 25,000 phantom “roads” the state announced it will sue over in an attempt to gain a foothold on Utah’s remote and beautiful federal lands and make inroads to subverting future wilderness designations.

Don’t let Utah commit this highway robbery!

Utah and several counties justify this madness with “R.S. 2477,” an 1866 law stating “[t]he right of way for the construction of highways across public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted.” That made sense in the homesteading era but the statute has outlived its purpose, and Congress repealed it in 1976 subject to valid existing rights.

Please, help us stop the land grab!

But Congress couldn’t imagine that this gully in Capitol Reef—and the thousands of cow paths, old seismic lines, dry stream beds and one-man joyride trails like it in the suit—would be the kind of claim that would follow. Utah is brazen in its bogus claims: Mark Ward, an attorney for the counties involved in the suit, blustered that all the “roads” in the lawsuit are “decades old, legitimate and well-established public transportation routes on which a broad cross section of Utahns and Americans depend for access, law enforcement, recreation, resource use and resource preservation.”

Really? A broad cross section of rabbits, lizards, and deer may well use these routes, but Utahns are certainly not using them to take their kids to school. This suit is not about transportation—it’s about barring protection of our magnificent federal lands for the benefit of extractive industry, developers and off-road vehicles, and once that happens, these lands are gone for good. Please help us stop Herbert and the State of Utah today!

Really, these are legitimate roads?

7:37 am

Yesterday, from The Salt Lake Tribune:

Utah Association of Counties attorney Mark Ward insists the roads are real — and “most definitely about transportation.”

“Every road to be claimed in the upcoming state and county lawsuits are decades old, legitimate and well-established public transportation routes,” Ward said, “on which a broad cross section of Utahns and Americans depend for access, law enforcement, recreation, resource use and resource preservation.”

Look at these photos of RS 2477 claims from the state of Utah.  Do they look like well-established public transportation routes to you?