Utah county commissioners passed wilderness
recommendations on to Gov. Mike Leavitt March 31, and, as expected,
they didn’t ask for much. The counties recommended about 1 million
acres of Bureau of Land Management wilderness – about half what the
BLM itself recommended and one-sixth of that urged by the Utah
Wilderness Coalition. The counties left out many areas targeted by
environmentalists, including Cedar Mesa, the Henry Mountains, the
Kaiparowits Plateau and the Dirty Devil drainage. Beaver and Wayne
counties recommended no wilderness, while Emery and Grand counties
recommended several types of less protective management in order to
shield industries such as mining and recreation. The counties
forwarded their recommendations after conducting public hearings in
March (HCN, 3/20/95). Following five regional meetings in
mid-April, Utah’s congressional delegation plans to introduce a
bill June 1. Two congressional field hearings on the legislation
will be held in June. For more information, call the governor’s
office at 801/538-1027.
* Jeff
Schmerker
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A modest proposal.
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