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SALT LAKE CITY — A piece of public lands legislation for Emery County has a nod of approval from local land users and some environmental groups, but it remains a cautious tightrope act as the bill begins to move through Congress.
Several members of the Stewardship for Public Lands on Tuesday sought assurances that the legislation will be pulled it if it substantially altered or hijacked along the way.
"We will pull the bill if it is not county driven," said Lorie Fowlke, the district director for Rep. John Curtis' office.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Curtis, a GOP congressman from Provo, unveiled the measure last month.
The Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018 proposes:
• Moving 436,643 acres of wilderness study areas in Emery County into permanent wilderness areas and expanding them to 577,986 acres
• Establishing the 383,380-acre San Rafael Swell Western Heritage and Historic Mining National Conservation Area to conserve and protect the recreational, cultural, historical, educational, natural, scenic and wildlife resources of the area
• Expanding Goblin Valley State Park by 10,000 acres, leaving the new addition as federal land, with considerations for state resources to improve visitor experience
• Trading out 100,000 acres of school trust lands in that area for lands to provide more benefit to the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration's permanent trust fund for school beneficiaries
• Establishing the Jurassic National Monument comprising 2,453 acres
Lawmakers noted the irony of pushing legislation to add more wilderness or more monuments in a state that has vigorously fought those federal designations.
"I hate like heck to create wilderness, but if the citizens of Emery County … if those folks are on board," said Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, pausing. "It is not the best, but it is the best for the times."
Randy Johnson, a former Emery County commissioner and now a consultant, said Emery County residents and leaders are "very concerned about doing nothing," because the area is too much of a high-profile target for conservation.
In a 2010 leaked memo from then Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's office, the San Rafael was among many areas in multiple states under consideration for monument status, stoking local concern.
Johnson said the bill has long been on the planning table, growing out of thousands of meetings and concessions hammered out over more than two decades of negotiating with hunters, ranchers, whitewater rafting enthusiasts, history buffs and some environmental groups that are on board.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is not, arguing the bill preserves traditional uses and leaves intact too many off-vehicle routes, aside from not setting aside enough wilderness to protect.
Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, said there are no guarantees that even if the legislation does pass, that a future presidential administration won't turn its eye to Emery County, and with a signature, declare more monuments.
"We don't have any certainty," he said.
Ivory used the analysis of the school bully who lets his victim determine the extent of the wedgie he receives, adding he doesn't consider that any type of victory. "One wedgie begets another wedgie which begets the atomic wedgie. I am the party of no wedgie."
Members of the commission say they worry if they give up a little, it will open the door for others to take or demand a lot.
"I can't think of a better example of local citizens coming together to do what is best," said Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem.
"Why in the world would we ask for wilderness? Why would we do that? That's crazy," he said. "There are some realities in that there are some treasures that need to be protected if that is how as a state we want to be. We are the Stewardship for Public Lands Commission. We are not a rape and pillage and 'drill baby drill' paradigm."
The Emery County lands bill gets a hearing before the House Committee on Natural Resources on Thursday.
