For 20 years, America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, which would provide the highest level of federal protection for millions of acres of public land, has been languishing in Congress. Thursday it will get its first congressional hearing, in the House Natural Resources subcommittee. That will be a triumphal moment for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the organization that has promoted a sweeping designation of Utah wilderness for decades, and many other groups that have fought alongside SUWA.
But the act will not become law -- not this year and not in the foreseeable future.
That's because not one of Utah's congressmen or senators supports the designation of 9.4 million acres of wilderness in one fell swoop, and that's the goal of this legislation. Many rural Utah counties are governed by politicians who oppose any designation of wilderness, saying they fear its effects on ranching, mining and oil and gas drilling, industries that traditionally have been the backbone of their economies.
In fact, if you want to see hackles rise in Kane, San Juan, Carbon and even Emery counties, just bring up the subject at a commission meeting. Some of that reaction is based on misinformation or plain myth about what would be restricted within a wilderness area. SUWA President Scott Groene rightly points out that some residents of rural counties are surprised to learn that many acres of public land in their areas are already being managed as wilderness study areas. Little would change under the Red Rock Act for ranchers whose cattle or sheep graze in WSAs now.
But if a sweeping wilderness bill were to pass, change would come for all-terrain-vehicle users, and in some areas more public land would become off-limits to oil and gas drilling. Those changes are needed to protect Utah's scenic wonders, archaeological and historic sites and wildlife habitat.
Thousands of ATVs running roughshod over public lands will lead not only to degradation of the state's treasures, but as the West heats up from the growing effects of climate change, arid Utah deserts could become dust bowls under the wheels of millions more ATVs.
We support the goals of the Red Rock Act. Utah is home to millions of acres of spectacular country that is unique and should be preserved. Outdoor recreation is an economic engine for Utah's future.
But we also believe that, with strong leadership from the Utah congressional delegation, a series of wilderness bills, each setting aside smaller areas that people could get their heads around, could accomplish the same goals faster without fomenting as much hostility among local governments and residents. It's simply difficult to digest a number like 9.4 million in one act, even when broken down into the 200 units included in the bill.
There are two successful models for locally spawned wilderness designation: the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act and the Cedar Mountains Wilderness Act, which was sponsored by Rep. Rob Bishop to prevent the Goshute tribe from opening a nuclear waste dump. Together, they protect only about 300,000 acres of wilderness, and took five years of maneuvering through Congress.
But the two bills, especially the Washington County land deal, address local concerns and specific features of the land. The Red Rock bill could only deal with details, such as the use and history of certain roads and trails, in amendments that could take years, even decades, to get passed in Washington.
Sen. Bob Bennett took the lead on the Washington County act, spurring local governments and citizen groups to take a long view of how they want their community to grow. The end product protects 256,000 acres of wilderness in Utah's Dixie and gives Utah its first section of a Wild and Scenic River, 166 miles of the Virgin River.
While wilderness designation must be approved by Congress, it seems to us that any legislation would have a better chance of getting that OK if it had local support. If Utah's members of Congress were to take the lead, as Bennett and Rep. Jim Matheson did in Washington County, and get the ball rolling with county officials and local citizen groups, we might see an Emery County Conservation Act or similar legislation for San Juan or even Kane counties.
We agree with SUWA's contention that the Red Rock bill is a tool for restarting the wilderness debate. Even the remote possibility of its passage in Congress could help launch discussions among rural Utah officials, who would rather have some say than wait to see what might come out of Washington.
And such local discussions, if overseen by Bennett, Sen. Orrin Hatch or another congressional representative, could dispel some of the misinformation that's so prevalent about what is and isn't allowed in wilderness areas. Volunteers and employees of SUWA and other environmental groups, including The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club, spent years traveling the back roads of Utah, creating an inventory of places that meet the definition in the Wilderness Act of 1964: "Wilderness areas shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, education, conservation and historical use." That definition has been refined over the past 45 years, but its goal remains the same: to protect America's treasures.
We need to get on with it.
