The West's most prominent anti-environmentalist group is calling it quits. But Utah chapters are pledging to fight on.

People for the USA, a Colorado-based organization that has been at the forefront of public lands debates, is going out of business and will shut down its office at the end of the year.

"We ran out of money," said Jeff Harris, People for the USA's executive director. He said the national group could no longer raise the $850,000 it needed to operate each year.

The group was founded in 1989 by Bill and Barbara Grannell in Oregon as a backlash against the environmental movement over timber restrictions imposed to protect the endangered spotted owl. A few years ago, it changed its name from People for the West to People for the USA when chapters in the Eastern United States began to organize.

People for the USA has roughly 30,000 members nationwide, including 17 members in Congress and more than 500 local and state elected officials.

The organization gained prominence in rural Utah during conflicts over the designation and management of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Kane and Garfield counties. The group has been critical of efforts to designate additional wilderness in Utah and the closure of roads used by off-road vehicle enthusiasts. Most of its membership is in rural Utah, where economies are rooted in ranching, mining and timbering.

Today, statewide membership is about 2,500. Chapters have sprouted in Kanab, Boulder, Escalante, Tropic, Panguitch, Cedar City, St. George-Hurricane, Mt. Pleasant, Antimony, Salt Lake City, Vernal, Duchesne, Nephi, Roosevelt and Provo.

Members were recently notified of the organization's decision to disband but it had little impact in Utah.

"We're still running and going," said Mike Noel, vice president of the Kanab chapter of People for the USA. He said there's a possibility of joining with an affiliate group such as the Blue Ribbon Coalition but the mission will be the same — protecting rights to use public lands.

Organizers are encouraging members to remain active.

"A lot of members will continue on in some form or shape," Harris said.

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Utah's statewide chapter is joining forces with Frontiers of Freedom, a state rights group founded in 1995 by former Wyoming Sen. Malcolm Wallop.

"We're so excited about this," said Shauna Johnson, president of the Utah chapter of People for the USA. Many Western chapters of People for the USA are becoming affiliated with the Washington, D.C.-based Frontiers of Freedom, because it is a powerful lobbying group that has exerted notable political pressure, she added.

"It's a very powerful union," Johnson said.


E-mail: donna@desnews.com

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