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Fight Over New National Monuments In Utah Grows

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The Bears Ears National Monument, which protects the ruins of ancient civilizations, is at the center of a fight over public lands in Utah/BLM

A battle over the future of two national monuments in Utah appears to only be getting started, with the state's congressmen determined to see the new Bears Ears National Monument decommissioned and the decades old Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument reduced in size. Countering their efforts, gear manufacturer Patagonia has launched a campaign to have Americans flood Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's office with phone calls in support of the monuments.

This public lands tug-of-war is not new in the West, only just the latest chapter. The battle over the federal landscape dates at least to the 1970s-era Sagebrush Rebellion, a movement that pitted local economics against federal land management and the fledgling conservation movement. Though it never succeeded in seeing the transfer of federal lands to states, the movement continues to ebb and flow, and is at another crescendo, with Utah at the epicenter because of President Obama's designation of the Bears Ears National Monument in December.

According to U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, President Trump is "very supportive, very sympathetic," to the congressional delegation's desire to reverse that designation. U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch agreed with Rep. Chaffetz this week, and added that he was optimistic the president would take action to open up what he described as world-class coal reserves within Grand Staircase-Escalante that currently are out of reach due to its monument designation.

"Watch what happens in the next few months," the senator said Tuesday on a Salt Lake City radio show. "I think you're going to see that this man will respect our state, and he should."

The idea of a national designation protecting the landscape within Bears Ears National Monument is not new. As long ago as 1936 there was a proposal to preserve much of the area under an Escalante National Monument. Rep. Chaffetz and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, also a Utah Republican, had worked to devise a management plan for roughly the same area as that contained in the 1.35-million-acre national monument through their Public Lands Initiative. According to a U.S. Bureau of Land Management analysis of the designated monument and the PLI proposal, there were many similarities:

  • The PLI and the proclamation both require the development of management plans for the designations with robust public involvement, including consultation with state, local, and tribal governments.
  • The PLI and the proclamation both establish tribal commissions to provide information and recommendations to allow for the integration of tribal expertise and traditional knowledge into management.
  • The PLI and the proclamation both call for advisory committees or councils made up of avariety of interested local stakeholders to assist in the development and implementation of management plans for the NCAs and monument, respectively.
  • Neither the PLI nor the monument would affect existing oil, gas, and mining operations. Both the PLI and the proclamation would prohibit new mineral leases, mining claims, prospecting or exploration activities, and oil, gas, and geothermal leases.
  • The PLI and the monument both allow livestock grazing to continue. The PLI includes additional management guidelines including setting a floor that would prohibit managers from reducing grazing below certain levels. The BLM and the USFS will continue to grant grazing permits and leases under the proclamation.
  • The PLI and the proclamation would both require travel management plans, and would limit OHVs to routes designated for their use.
  • Neither the PLI nor the proclamation would affect the jurisdiction of the State of Utah with respect to fish and wildlife management, including hunting and fishing.

Actions by the congressional delegation, the governor, and the Utah Legislature have had a negative impact on the state. Last week the Outdoor Retailer Show, which twice yearly stages its convention in Salt Lake City, a convention estimated to bring $45 million in direct spending to the capital and the Wasatch Front and $300 million in indirect spending throughout the state, announced it would leave after its contract runs out next year because of what show officials perceive as the state's anti-public lands position.

Patagonia, a manufacturing giant in the outdoor gear industry, was the first company to pull out of the OR Shows, saying earlier this month that it would no longer participate. Now the company has launched a phone-in campaign to express public outrage over the state's public lands positions.

In passing two resolutions asking the Trump administration to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument and reduce the Grand Staircase Escalante Monument, Governor Herbert and Utah’s state delegation have unleashed an all-out assault on the state’s protected public lands. This land grab would open wilderness and recreation areas to oil and gas development and could eliminate access to the diverse landscape that makes Utah unique.

To voice disapproval, Patagonia worked with Phone2Action to have people place calls to Gov. Herbert's office.

While Gov. Herbert hasn't been swayed by those within the outdoor industry, Patagonia officials hope the general public can convince him otherwise.

"We hope that continued pressure by Utahns and the general public to keep public lands public and to protect Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument will make Utah’s elected officials change their position," said Corley Kenna, the company's director of global communications and public relations. "Patagonia has been actively engaged in protecting public lands in Utah and across the country, including Bears Ears National Monument, for many years and we have no plans to slow down now. We will not stand by and watch as elected officials denigrate our public lands, the backbone of our business, and try to sell them off to the highest bidder."

While the company does have an outlet store in Salt Lake City, it is not planning to close it in another sign of disapproval with state officials.

"In addition to being a place where you can purchase Patagonia products, our stores serve as centers of environmental activism and we look forward to continuing that tradition of convening people around environmental issues that cross all political boundaries and impact all people," she said.

The land battle pits a political mindset against economic realities, with the measure of each weighted heavily by one's political affiliation. Utah Republicans have, for the most part, been livid over the fact that nearly 65 percent of the state's landscape is part of the federal domain. Democrats generally see great value in that percentage. Polling tends to indicate that a majority of voters in the Beehive State value public lands in general, and national monuments specifically.

While Sen. Hatch sees the coal reserves within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as a "tremendous economic resource for Utah," current events put a damper on that belief. Nationally, coal production was down 18 percent last year, reaching its lowest output since 1978, according to the Energy Information Administration. Wyoming, the national leader in production, has seen a downfall in its output due to the glut of natural gas. On top of those trends, the Navajo Generating Station on the Utah-Arizonia border could close in 2019 due to the high costs of operations when compared to natural gas-fired generating stations.

Too, there currently is a pause in the federal coal-leasing program. Before she left office Interior Secretary Sally Jewell approved the pause so the U.S. Bureau of Land Management could review its policies for managing coal reserves on its lands. That temporary pause was the focus of lawsuits filed in November against Interior by two Utah counties interested in seeing Alton Coal Co., which operates a small mine not far from Bryce Canyon National Park, to greatly expand on BLM lands.

“This mine is located only 12 miles southwest of Bryce Canyon National Park and 25 miles northeast of Zion National Park," said Lindsay Beebe, who is involved with the Sierra Club’s Utah Beyond Coal campaign. "The federal coal leasing program puts our public lands, our outdoor recreation economy, our health and our climate in jeopardy. Wind and solar are now cost-competitive with coal in many states. It’s time for Utah leaders to accept that reality and get serious about supporting workers who are being impacted by our transition to a clean energy economy.”

At the Grand Canyon Trust, Amber Reimondo said that, “Demand for coal is plummeting because there are cheaper alternatives. A big reason for taking a break from leasing public coal reserves is to figure out how to truly help the people the coal market is deserting, not by propping up dying coal companies by selling them cheap public coal, but by directly helping coal-dependent communities to weather the changing energy market.”

Studies by Headwaters Economics points to the benefits the preservation of public lands bring to surrounding communities/Headwaters Economics

Conversely, protecting public lands in Utah from the extractive industries has a positive economioc impact, according to statistics pulled together by Headwaters Economics, a nonpartisan research group in Bozeman, Montana. Grand County, Utah, home to Arches National Park and the recreation Mecca called Moab, saw employment in finance and insurance (+61%), health care (+56%), and professional and technical services (+32%), grow more quickly than the overall increase in employment (+25%) from 2001 to 2013, Headwaters Economics reported in a 2015 report.

“Grand County’s picturesque and high-profile public lands—and the environmental and recreational amenities they provide—are closely linked to population growth and other economic benefits,” Chris Mehl, the report’s author, said at the time. “One key challenge facing Grand County leaders is how to maximize the long-term return from this valuable asset. To continue to capitalize on the competitive advantage that these lands provide, the county and local groups should work collaboratively with state and federal officials to implement policies that sustain existing uses and also anticipate future development and protection needs to provide for long-term growth.”

In another report out this month, Headwaters Economics researchers note that "rural counties in the West with more federal lands performed better on average than their peers with less federal lands in four key economic measures." Among the findings:

  • From the early 1970s to the 2010s, western rural counties with the highest share of federal lands on average had faster population, employment, and personal income growth than their peers with the lowest share of federal lands. Per capita incomes grew somewhat faster.
  • Some rural counties are struggling and are searching for ways to benefit from nearby federal lands. While every county has unique circumstances, the changing economy of the West has impacted all counties and altered the economic role of nearby public lands.
  • Counties that performed the best are benefitting from nearby public lands in multiple ways, such as supporting commodity sectors like natural gas and timber, increasing tourist and recreation spending, and sustaining steady growth by attracting entrepreneurs and retirees.

Relatively new to the battle to preserve national monuments in general and Bears Ears specifically is the Evangelical Environmental Network, which this month delivered to Congress petitions signed by more than 225,000 pro-life Christians who want state congressional delegations "to reject efforts to sell off America’s public lands, honor protections of national monuments, and permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund."

“As pro-life Christians, we are called to be good stewards of the bounty upon which all life depends, to protect and defend the beauty and purity of the land and water, and to have clean skies and fresh air for our children to enjoy. Our public lands are essential to our quality of life; they are national treasures,” the Rev. Mitchell Hescox, president & CEO of EEN, said Wednesday in a release. “As stewards of these national treasures, we must be ever vigilant against attempts to sell them, transfer them, or weaken their protections, or to weaken the laws that make our public lands possible.

"... The Bears Ears National Monument is a tribute to Utah’s rich indigenous past and recompense for its frequent neglect in the present. As Christians, we revere and honor America’s indigenous communities and heritage,” added the Rev. Hescox. “We want no part of legislation or attitudes that are demeaning to or dismissive of their sovereignty, their respect for the sanctity of Creation, or their history.”

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Despite claims by Utah's legislature that a "majority" of Utah residents support Trumpian efforts to eliminate or reduce Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante, a large number of residents of Kanab apparently haven't received the message.

Here is an article from Kanab's weekly paper reporting on a city council meeting when members of the public spoke in opposition to resolutions by the council amd Kane County Commission in support of a legislative initiative written by Mike Noel, Kane County's representative in the legislature.

http://www.sunews.net/article.cfm?articleID=2120


Well, it looks like the deveopers who have been salivating over a chunk of land just outside the entrance to the Needles District in Canyonlands will finally be able to start building their condos and trophy homes.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/4884954-155/state-to-sell-needles-outpost-land

(I wasn't sure where to put this on Traveler, but guess this is as good a place as any.)

 


It'd be a real shame to see that property transformed into some other use. With the small size of the Squaw Flat (aka Needles) Campground, just 26 sites, the Outpost offered a needed spill-over campground for folks who made the long drive to the Needles District hoping to score a campsite only to find them all taken.

Can Traveler readers combined pledge $1 million? That'd be less than a dollar per reader....


Kurt, that's a GREAT idea.  Trouble is, Ken Ivory and his friends can stir up a lot more than that.  But what if Traveler readers each ponied up $10 or $20?????

If you decide to really go for it, let me know and I'll be first to send a check.  Will $100 make a good down payment?

Trouble is, there's not much time . . . . .


I'm in, too.


Comrade Trump and his cabal are successfully chopping up what threads of democracy remain by butchering public lands for his billionaire owners.  Amerika deserves Trump and has since 911.


Headwaters Economics are producing "alternative facts". We had a real socio-economist look at their study and he pointed out its MANY flaws: 1. The Methodology used cannot and does not answer the question because it does not compare privately held lands with similar characteristics with Federal lands. To answer the thesis question private and public lands of similar characteristics from non-metero counties throughout the United States needs to be included in the analysis.

2. There is no analysis of the soc-economic impacts based on the nature of the Federal lands i.e. National Park, National Recreation Area, National Historic Site, Forest Service, BLM, Wildlife Refuge, Military Reserve etc. All types in their analysis is treated the same when the impacts are different.

3. Even if they limited their analysis to the Western 11 States, they needed to compare private lands with Federal lands with similar characteristics. For example in Oregon Counties with substantial privately held Forest land need to be compared with Counties with substantial Federal Forest lands. This would be the procedure for each resource and each land use.

In short this is a flawed study that does not and cannot answer the question "are Federal Land and Asset or a Liability?". 

Gilbert D. Miller Ph.D  


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