The Bureau of Land Management has ended 14 years of study by submitting to President Bush the Interior Department's recommendation that 1.9 million acres in Utah should be protected as wilderness.
That figure is the same as in previous announcements. The difference is that Wilderness Study reports, with information from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines, have been completed and submitted.The most recent change was the dropping of the rest of Turtle Canyon from consideration as wilderness in December 1990. This is a rugged 33,690-acre tract in the lower Book Cliffs, deleted because of its coal reserves.
BLM planners changed from supporting protection for all of the unit in 1986, to supporting protecting 27,960 acres in February 1990, to supporting none.
Greg Thayn, the BLM wilderness specialist for Utah, said submission of the Wilderness Study Reports marks the end of one of the longest and most intensive land-planning efforts in Utah's history.
The reports are bundled into a four-volume set, with 11,000 pages. The books contain wilderness suitability information, along with the department's rationale for the recommendations.
"BLM's wilderness review was comprised of an inventory phase conducted between 1978 and 1984, a study phase completed with publication of the Utah BLM Statewide Wilderness Final Environmental Impact Statement in 1990, and a report phase," which ended with the preparation of the new reports.
The BLM started out studying all of its 22 million acres in Utah. Of this, 3.2 million acres were examined in wilderness study areas over the past eight years.
"In the end, the BLM and the secretary of the Interior have recommended that 66 new wilderness areas, encompassing 1.9 million acres, be added to the nation's Wilderness Preservation System," Thayn said.
Now that BLM has finished its paperwork, the agency vows to continue to protect the wilderness values in all 95 wilderness study areas, including the 29 where it recommended against wilderness protection and the parts of study areas that the BLM would like to eliminate from consideration. Altogether, it will continue protecting 3.2 million acres until a final decision is made.
Under the Federal Land Use and Policy Act, the president must tell Congress his recommendations on wilderness by October 1993.
When Congress decides on this controversial matter is not determined by any deadline. "Only Congress can designate areas to the National Wilderness Preservation System," said Don Banks, BLM spokesman in Salt Lake City.
Utahns have taken a wide variety of positions on the issue. These range from no further wilderness on BLM land - the position of the Utah Association of Counties - to the Legislature's resolution that no more than 1.4 million acres should be designated; to 5.7 million acres of wilderness supported by mainline environmental groups; to 13 million acres recommended for protection by Earth First!, self-described radical environmentalists.
Thayn told the Deseret News Tuesday that many copies of the reports are available to the public. They may be picked up at the BLM state office, 324 S. State, or in any of the five district offices scattered through the state.