Kris Wallack, Sandy Sherman, John Wallack, Gina Iannelli, and Doug Yohn were part of the "Banner Brigade" in Denver.

Judith Sellers, Stephen Bartlett and Brett Ruckman at the Buckley Air Force Base.

Go to www.greatercanyonlands.org to sign up to participate in future “Banner Brigades” and to learn other ways to ask President Obama to protect Greater Canyonlands.

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument would be one of the casualties of Herbert’s crusade.  Copyright James Kay

Some Utah politicians, including the Governor, never waste an opportunity to indulge in criticism of the federal agencies that manage the nation’s public lands, including BLM lands in Utah.  But there’s new proof that when they do so they are out of step with Utahns and others across the West who express strong support for protecting these special places.

In a cross-cutting survey of attitudes toward public land protection in six Western states, researchers found that Utahns are right on par with the rest of westerners in support of conservation.  The Colorado College State of the Rockies Project’s Conservation in the West Survey found:

• 76% of Utahns think that we can protect air, water and land resources while at the same time maintaining a good economy.
• Over 90% said that national parks and monuments are both essential parts of the state’s economy and quality of life.

With such compelling support for conservation, you’d think the priorities of Utah politicians, like Governor Gary Herbert, would reflect this reality by supporting new protections for Utah’s remarkable redrock wilderness.

Think again.

Instead, the governor is channeling the worst of his inner “Sagebrush Rebel” by using a 19th century law — R.S. 2477, repealed more than 30 decades ago — as the basis for a massive lawsuit to establish control over “highways” across federal public lands, virtually immune from federal regulation.  Please call Governor Herbert at 800-705-2464 and ask him to stop his attack on our precious public lands.

These “highways,” many of which are actually hiking trails, dry stream beds and cow paths, would invite rampant and destructive off-road vehicle use and create obstacles to the protection of proposed wilderness lands.  Soil erosion, noise, water pollution, and degraded native plant and wildlife habitat would all result.

What’s worse, many of these claimed “roads” cut through some of Utah’s crown jewels, found in the recent survey to be so important to Utah’s economy and quality of life, including Zion, Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks as well as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Does Governor Herbert really think bringing off-road vehicles into places like the Muley Twist of Capitol Reef or Hackberry Canyon in the Grand Staircase is going to help bring more people to the state and improve Utahns’ quality of life?

Now is your chance to act and tell Governor Herbert that his misguided crusade against the federal government has gone too far. Call Gary Herbert today (800-705-2464) and tell him to stop the land grab!

Happy Canyon

The BLM’s decisions revived 39 oil and gas leases that terminated decades ago on tens of thousands of acres in the Monument, the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the Fiddler Butte, French Springs-Happy Canyon, and North Escalante wilderness study areas, and many more places the BLM and SUWA agree have wilderness character.  Today, almost all of these places are closed to new oil and gas leasing.  A victory here will give these special places real protection because companies cannot nominate and BLM cannot sell them as new leases.

Remarkably, we found ourselves arguing against the Obama administration that was defending both the district court’s decision to throw us out of court and the underlying leasing decisions made in the Bush administration.

Our legal team of SUWA and NRDC attorneys represent the 1 million plus members of SUWA, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Wilderness Society, National Parks Conservation Association and Grand Canyon Trust.

In December 2011, Utah blazed new trails in public-lands litigation by being the first state to file notice of intent to sue to retake ownership of 18,784 roads in 22 rural counties. The state claims the right-of-way to these roads based on Revised Statute 2477, a law passed by Congress in 1866 to give settlers rights-of-way to the paths and trails they’d carved out of territorial lands (see p. 19).

The notices of intent served as the warning shot, giving the federal government 180 days to consider an alternative solution before the legal showdown really begins.

For Harja, the payoff for the years’ worth of preparation for litigation and preparation is simple.

“A transportation network that we can own,” Harja says.

SUWA attorney Heidi McIntosh disagrees.

“This really isn’t about roads,” McIntosh says. “It’s about trying to control federal public lands.” McIntosh points to the case of the Salt Creek Canyon feud, where San Juan County sued over the Salt Creek Trail in Canyonlands National Park to claim it as a road. The road was actually a streambed, and the county had previously been upset that SUWA had prevailed in court to prevent Jeeps from driving up the rugged path. “Jeeps would hit a rock, and all of the fluid and oil would drain into the creek,” destroy the vegetation and contaminate the stream, McIntosh says.

McIntosh highlights this case to point out that PLPCO’s claims on 18,784 roads—many of which are, in fact, dirt paths, streambeds and cowboy trails—stand to be an incredible taxpayer boondoggle. According to documents McIntosh received from the state in an open-records request, 113 of the 18,784 roads cross over national parks like Arches in Moab and Capitol Reef National Park near Torrey.

“It’s their attempt at shock and awe, because they can’t be serious about litigating 18,000 claims,” McIntosh says. She says San Juan County spent $1 million litigating the Salt Creek case alone, which they lost over a 12-day trial but are still appealing.

Read the rest of the article by clicking here.

And that’s not all, folks.  Today, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that the “Company backing Utah nuclear plant is a fraud.”

The existing Coal Hollow mine site. Copyright Ray Bloxham/SUWA.

Today is your last chance to comment on the proposed Alton coal mine expansion outside of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Tell the BLM to JUST SAY NO!

Back in November, the Obama administration released a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) analyzing a proposal to sell a federal coal lease on the western doorstep of Bryce Canyon National Park, potentially threatening the remarkable clean air, water, and dark night skies at the park, as well as the livelihood of nearby gateway communities.

Please urge the BLM to deny this expansion by adopting the “no action alternative” of the EIS.

Remember, the comment deadline is today.  Click here to take action now!


Click here for more information.

Many of the state’s “road” claims are as rough and overgrown as this one.  Copyright Ray Bloxham/SUWA.

Last night, Utah Governor Gary Herbert declared war on Utah’s wilderness.

In his State of the State address, Herbert defiantly declared that he will “fortify our state as a bulwark against federal overreach” and fight the federal government to gain control over Utah’s wild public lands.

Can you make a contribution to SUWA today, so we can block the State of Utah’s anti-wilderness land grab?

Yes! I want to stop Utah’s land grab.

Herbert has launched the biggest attack against Utah’s wilderness we’ve faced in fifteen years.

He’s pledged to sue the United States government to seize control over nearly 17,000 “roads.”  Many are actually wash bottoms or rough trails that would slice apart the San Rafael Swell, the Grand Staircase, and Canyonlands National Park.

If Herbert succeeds, the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service will be powerless to stop ATVs and dirt bikes from ripping through proposed wilderness.

We need your help to defend Utah’s wilderness.  These lands belong to all Americans and generations to come, not to a handful of Utah politicians.

Click here to help SUWA defend Utah’s wilderness.

Anti-wilderness factions in the State have blustered for two decades that this lawsuit would be filed—and Governor Herbert finally pulled the trigger.  The State is gearing up with lawyers and field workers, and is marshaling millions of dollars for this fight.

This fight will involve the courts, Congress and the Obama administration.  And it’s a fight that we must win.

We must block Governor Herbert’s land grab.  And with your help, we will.

Click here to contribute.