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SALT LAKE CITY — A committee of lawmakers voted Tuesday to pursue the acquisition of Bears Ears National Monument in the event President Donald Trump does not rescind the fledgling designation.
The 9-2 vote by the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee advances HCR24 to the full House for further debate.
Bill sponsor Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, said more than half of the 43 state parks that exist in Utah were acquired by using the federal Recreation and Public Purposes Act, which is a 1954 law that authorizes the sale or lease of public lands for recreational or public purposes.
"I think this is something that opens the door for more negotiations, opens the door for more cooperation with the Native Americans," Noel said.
The resolution calls for the establishment of a management plan for the Bears Ears monument in San Juan County by working collaboratively with the local Navajo tribe, elected officials and representatives from other southwestern tribes.
"We can sit down with the Native Americans, we can look at this area … and actually give them something with some meat on it that they can take and say, 'This is an opportunity to really take control of this area,'" Noel said, stressing that management would fall to a joint coalition.
Gavin Noyes, executive director of the pro-monument Native American advocacy organization Utah Dine Bikeyah, panned the measure.
"We are opposed to this resolution as it stands," Noyes said. "There are thousands of Navajo in San Juan County who support the Bears Ears National Monument."
Noel immediately disputed that assertion.
"I believe strongly that there are not thousands of Navajo in San Juan County who support the monument," he said.
Noyes said Native American tribes that support the creation of the national monument have "invested their future" in the monument's existence, believing it will be an economic driver for the area.
Noel agreed a national monument status invites tourism, but he said that is not always a good thing.
"I don't think we want thousands and thousands of people tromping through that area, but that is what a monument will do," he said.
In other public lands measures, the committee voted to approve HB385 by Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, that establishes a process within the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation to create state monuments.
Monument protections would come with the least geographic footprint possible and require local elected officials' approval.
One possible candidate for state monument status is Fantasy Canyon on a small slice of federal land south of Vernal with its craggy and unique sandstone features.
The committee also signed off on a bill that implements some changes to the now-dormant Utah Public Land Management Act, passed last year by lawmakers.
Another bill from Noel, HB407 only kicks in should the state receive a transfer of federal lands of 250,000 acres or greater.
The bill spells out changes on exchanges of lands or the sale of land and details that it is the policy of the state that it prefers exchanges over any sale.
"Our interest in Utah is to make sure we don't sell these lands off, so we don't sell our heritage," Noel said.
The sale of public land would be limited to parcels under 100 acres and only after it's been determined the land has minimal value for hunting, fishing or outdoor recreation, according to the bill.
The sale would require the approval of two-thirds of the Legislature and the governor.
"What we have done in this section is make it more difficult to sell public lands," Noel said, noting the sell-off of public lands is often lobbed at the state by critics of the land transfer effort.
The measure passed unanimously. Email: amyjoi@deseretnews.com Twitter: amyjoi16
