National Forest Wilderness at Stake in Utah

Please Write to Senator Bennett
 

Senator Bob Bennett is continuing his county-by-county process of developing public lands bills for Utah.  This process began with legislation for Washington County in southwest Utah which passed last year.  Counties now working on their public lands bill include Emery, Piute, Beaver, and now San Juan.  In San Juan County, which seems to be on a fast track, the La Sal Mountains, Elk Ridge, and Abajo Mountains are at stake.
 
This county-by-county approach to public lands legislation is bad because:

1)    Ecosystems and federal land boundaries do not follow county lines.

2)    The process is biased towards local economic interests and parochial politics, not the larger national public interest.

3)    The process encourages trade-offs of public assets to local interests in return for their cooperation on Wilderness designations.  Wilderness designations should stand on their own worth, not be used as bargaining chips.

4)    Wilderness designations from this process are sometimes compromised by less-than-Wilderness stipulations (such as allowances for ORV use) and increases in timber cutting on non-Wilderness lands. Biologically productive lands are sometimes traded for “rock and ice” wilderness which, while pretty, are less ecologically important.  (See “Quid Pro Quo Wilderness – A New Threat to Public Lands” at http://www.westlx.org/quid-pro-quo.pdf).


Please write to Senator Bennett at http://bennett.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email and make the following points:

1)    You are glad at the prospect of more Wilderness designation for the National Forests of Utah.

2)    You support the designation of all qualifying lands in the National Forests in Utah as Wilderness, and recommend adoption of the Utah Environmental Congress’ proposal for the Forest component of the legislation.

3)    Tell him of great experiences you have had in wild lands such as the La Sal Mountains and Abajo Mountains.


Senator Bennett is the most important political player in this process and is driving it, so be sure to write to him.  If you have time, please write to the following with the same message:
 
Senator Orrin Hatch:  http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Contact

Representative Jim Matheson:  https://forms.house.gov/matheson/contact.shtml

If you live in San Juan County, please contact the county commissioners:
 
Commissioner Bruce Adams, Chairman
bbadams@sanjuancounty.org

Commissioner Lynn Stevens
lstevens@sanjuancounty.org

Commissioner Kenneth Maryboy
kmaryboy@sanjuancounty.org

The forests, mountains, and critters cannot speak for themselves.  They depend on us to advocate for them.  Please speak for them today.

Proposed Abajo Mountains Wilderness