For the past several years Congressman Rob Bishop (R), representing Utah’s 1st Congressional District, has been promising to reveal a bill encapsulating what he calls the “Utah Public Lands Initiative.” His ambitious plan involves bringing together key state and national stakeholder groups, the Utah Congressional Delegation, Utah Governor Gary Herbert and state and local leaders […]
A coalition of environmental, recreational, political and business groups has come together to support the establishment of a 1.8 million acre national monument in the Colorado Plateau region of Southern Utah. The proposed Monument, covering an area larger than Delaware, would include areas surrounding Canyonlands National Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the Manti-La […]
Last week, the United States Senate passed a largely symbolic budget amendment sponsored by Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee) that “supports” the idea of selling, transferring or trading federally-managed public lands to the states. The idea of western states “taking back” public lands has been around since […]
On Tuesday, February 10, 2015, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed an executive order directing state agencies to implement additional state-level protection measures aimed heading off a potential federal listing of the sage grouse as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. Under a settlement reached in 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services have […]