WASHINGTON — Utah’s congressional delegation is pushing to preserve access to the University of Utah’s Research Park amid legal uncertainties posed by the Bureau of Land Management about whether the federal land is being used for its original intent.
Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis, along with Rep. Blake Moore in the House, introduced legislation last week to protect the 593-acre stretch of land on the Fort Douglas Military Reservation as a nationally recognized research park. The bill has also been co-sponsored by the remainder of the Utah House delegation.
“The University of Utah’s Research Park has been instrumental in putting Utah on the map for innovation, research and development,” Moore said in a statement. “It is imperative that we support Research Park and the University’s future needs. I am grateful to introduce this bill alongside Utah’s congressional delegation and look forward to moving it through the legislative process.”
The BLM first issued a land patent to the University of Utah in 1968 after a request by the college to use the military reservation for academic and research use. Since then, the university has established the nearly-600 acre park as a nationally recognized research facility, housing over 50 companies with more than 14,000 employees.
The patent was issued under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act (R&PP Act) that authorizes the secretary of the interior to allocate federal land for public use such as education and recreational activities. The patent only requires the university to “comply with the provisions of an approved management plan of development and management.”
However, the BLM has recently raised questions about whether the park is being used properly under the R&PP Act. In response, the legislation seeks to resolve that uncertainty by formally establishing a university research park as a valid use of conveyed land.
“For decades, Research Park has quietly delivered the kind of innovation, jobs and medical breakthroughs that make Utah proud,” Curtis said in a statement. “This bill ensures that the federal government honors its commitments so the University can keep building a future worthy of its past.”
“The University of Utah’s Research Park has been an engine of growth and discovery for more than half a century,” Lee added in his own statement. “This bill ensures that the university can continue building on that legacy without fear of retroactive reinterpretation of decades-old agreements.”
A spokesperson for BLM told the Deseret News the agency shares the intent to keep the park intact, but argued that may not be possible “absent a change in law.”
“Patented lands for purposes other than recreational or public purposes are not authorized by the R&PP Act. We hope to work with the University and the bill’s sponsors to resolve this issue,” Christina Judd, communications director BLM Utah state office, told the Deseret News in a statement.
If the land is used for another purpose, which BLM says the research park qualifies as, the patent may be altered after the agency has been given notice and has the opportunity to schedule a hearing.
The legislation comes as Utah officials have long sought to gain control of federal lands in the state, even going so far as to file a lawsuit against BLM last year questioning whether the government agency had authority to hold 18.5 million acres of public land within Utah borders.
About 63% of Utah’s land is owned by the federal government, the most of any state in the country aside from Nevada.
The Supreme Court ultimately declined to take up the case.