Venture into Southern Utah and you will find yourself surrounded by multicolored cliffs, plateaus, mesas, buttes, pinnacles and canyons that glow in the sunlight.
The Wilderness Society and its 200,000 members are committed to the resource management planning processes for the spectacular and irreplaceable National Monuments managed by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). This position paper outlines our concerns and suggestions involving one of the most critical aspects of the planning process: the creation of a coherent and legal transportation system.
The Presidential designation of Grand Staircase-Escalante as the nation’s second largest National Monument on September 18, 1996 not only preserved a spectacular 1.9 million-acre natural treasure for future generations to enjoy, but it also heralded a new era of federal landscape conservation.
I don’t know how many acres of Bureau of Land Management property in Utah should be set aside as wilderness. But my gut tells me there should be plenty.
… Have we become so selfish and so greedy that we have to have everything right now, as cheap as possible, no matter the cost to the environment and to those who follow us? Can’t we choose to share not only the beauty of Utah’s wild places but their bounty with future generations?
She mentions the "land grab" that occurred in 1996 with the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Where was the "land grab"? The area was previously administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The monument continues to be administered by the BLM. Most of the monument is under a multiple-use designation. This means that hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, grazing and even many of the previous oil and gas leases are still honored.
In a split decision, a federal appeals court panel in Denver ruled Tuesday that Kane County had no authority to remove signs restricting off-highway vehicle use, and put up new signs inviting such use, in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and other areas overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
Kane County Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw told a group of ATV riders Saturday: "We're mad as hell and aren't going to take [it] anymore."
His remark was met with cheers from more than 300 all-terrain and off-highway vehicle owners at a rally outside Kanab before the group got the command, "Let's ride." They went en masse out to the Paria River to ride their machines up the muddy stream in a protest over federal restrictions on use.
Denver, CO– Regional and national efforts by the Bureau of Land Management were highlighted in the annual Comparative Analysis of Particular Excellence (CAPE) awards being handed out by The Wilderness Society’s BLM Action Center. For more than 75 years The Wilderness Society has pushed for added protections of our public lands and in the past year the BLM has made progress towards that effort.
