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suwa, Author at Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
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February 15th, 2019
In this episode of Wild Utah, we bring you exciting news from Washington, D.C. about an issue we detailed in our first episode — wilderness legislation for Emery County, Utah. What happened in Congress on February 12, 2019 was a long time in the making, and is great news for redrock country.Wild Utah is made possible by the contributing members of SUWA. Our theme music, “What’s Worth?” is written and performed in Moab by Haley Noel Austin. Wild Utah is recorded at the studio of KRCL 90.9 FM, Listeners Community Radio of Utah in Salt Lake City. Our producer is Jerry Schmidt. We thank you all for generously donating your time, equipment and talent to Wild Utah.
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February 12th, 2019Utah’s Iconic San Rafael Swell Nears Wilderness Protection as Part of Public Lands Package Passed by U.S. Senate
Contact: Scott Groene, Executive Director, 801-712-5034, scott@suwa.org
Jen Ujifusa, Legislative Director, 801-791-2598, jen@suwa.org
Neal Clark, Wildlands Program Director, 435-260-1199, neal@suwa.org
Moab, UT (February 12, 2019) – In response to the U.S. Senate’s passage today of the Emery County Public Land Management Act as part of S. 47, the Natural Resources Management Act, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) executive director Scott Groene issued the following statement:
“We are excited by the passage of this legislation, which protects 663,000 acres of Utah’s iconic San Rafael Swell and Desolation and Labyrinth Canyons in Emery County as designated wilderness. It’s a tremendous step forward for the redrock and a validation of SUWA’s more than 35 years of advocacy.
“While this agreement came with some difficult choices, it brings long-term protection to this spectacular landscape.
“This bill was possible only because of Senator Dick Durbin, who has championed America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act for 20 years and was instrumental in brokering the agreement with Senator Hatch. In the House of Representatives, Rep. Alan Lowenthal challenged an earlier, flawed version—flaws which have now been largely addressed. These lands belong to all Americans and wilderness bills like this one can only succeed if Utah politicians recognize the national significance of their protection.
“We thank our steadfast allies in the Utah Wilderness Coalition- the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council- who each held strong with us for legislation that truly protects these lands.
“We appreciate the efforts of Sen. Hatch, Rep. John Curtis, and their staffs for seeing the bill through and keeping the lines of communication open. Likewise, we offer thanks and respect to the Emery County officials who brought sufficient flexibility to the table to create a bill that is a win for all Americans.
“At a time when our nation is deeply divided, this legislation brought together differing views for a result that is good for Redrock wilderness. Passing this legislation involved compromises, and landscapes deserving protection were left out. Nonetheless, this bill is good for Utah, and good for the United States.”
The Senate lands package now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration.
Additional Resources
More information, including maps and photographs of the protected region, is available here. A story map of the bill and region is available here.
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January 31st, 2019SOUTHERN UTAH WILDERNESS ALLIANCE – THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY –
SIERRA CLUBFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stephen Bloch, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 801.428.3981
Nada Culver, The Wilderness Society, 303.225.4635
Over the course of 12 months, the Trump Administration has systematically leased
the Four Corners region, making the area Ground Zero for its “Energy Dominance” agendaSalt Lake City, UT (January 31, 2019) – Less than three business days after the end of the partial government shutdown, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced plans to sell more than 217,000 acres of oil and gas leases on federal public lands throughout Utah during its upcoming March 2019 lease sale. The BLM plans to auction off 156 oil and gas lease parcels, including parcels in Utah’s culturally significant Four Corners region near Bears Ears, Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients national monuments, as well as the wild and remote Book Cliffs.
Utah BLM staff worked during the federal government shutdown to prepare for this lease sale. Taken together, the parcels cut a wide swath through Utah’s cultural, hunting, and wilderness legacy. Photographs of places proposed for upcoming sale are available here.
Throughout the course of three lease sales conducted over the past 12 months, the Trump administration’s BLM has systematically leased more than 112,000 acres in southeast Utah’s Four Corners Region, blanketing one of the densest accumulations of cultural resources in the country with oil and gas leases and setting the stage for the area to be drilled and developed. A map illustrating the BLM’s all-out assault on this fragile region is here.
“The BLM is placing the final pieces to complete its puzzle of oil and gas leases near Bears Ears, Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients national monuments,” said Landon Newell, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “The BLM has done so without considering the big-picture impacts to these national monuments and surrounding landscapes, including impacts to dark night skies, air quality, and the region’s rich cultural heritage.”
The National Park Service, the BLM’s sister agency in the Interior Department, has written the BLM on two occasions – before the March 2018 and now the March 2019 lease sale – urging the BLM to not lease parcels on the doorstep of Hovenweep National Monument. The BLM has not deferred any parcels in response to these concerns.
In response to the BLM’s notice of the March 2019 sale, the All Pueblo Council of Governors and Pueblo of Acoma have demanded that the BLM defer selling leases in the area until the agency conducts a thorough cultural resources review of the region. The Hopi Tribe has previously written the BLM demanding the same review. The BLM has not deferred any parcels in response to these concerns, either.
“The Trump administration is following a well-worn path of ‘leasing first, and thinking later,’ the same approach taken by the George W. Bush administration’s ‘drill here, drill now’ policies,” said Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “This approach has riddled Utah’s wild and culturally significant public lands with leases, which should come as no surprise given that it’s the same Bush political appointee – David Bernhardt – now steering the Trump Interior Department.”
In addition to the sell-off of wilderness-caliber and culturally rich lands, the BLM plans to lease nearly 100 parcels in eastern Utah’s Uinta Basin and Book Cliffs region, which the Environmental Protection Agency recently designated in “nonattainment” of national air quality standards for ozone. The Uinta Basin suffers from some of the worst air quality in the nation, largely due to the BLM’s ineffective and lax management of oil and gas leasing and development. Rather than take steps to bring the Uinta Basin into compliance with air quality standards, the BLM is rushing forward faster than ever to sell off public lands in the Basin for exploration and development. The Book Cliffs are a wild and remote region prized by hunters and guides for trophy big game.
“With BLM staff already stretched thin, it’s hard to believe that the six days the government was open since comments were submitted on this lease sale could be sufficient to address the many risks to wildlife, wilderness and archaeological resources on 217,000 acres of public lands,” said Nada Culver, Director of The Wilderness Society’s BLM Action Center. “And the fact that all of these parcels are still in the sale raises some red flags.”
“How many times can we say this? This is another egregious example of short term profit margins being put ahead of invaluable cultural and archeological resources – with areas near Bears Ears, Hovenweep, and Canyons of the Ancient national monuments being put back on the chopping block for the third time in a year,” said Utah Sierra Club Director Ashley Soltysiak. “Once lost, these incredible places are gone forever.”
There is no need to sacrifice Utah’s remarkable wild places for oil and gas leasing and development. Utah, like most western states, has a surplus of BLM-managed lands that are under lease but not in development,with only forty-five percent of its total leased land in development. There were approximately 2.5 million acres of federal public land in Utah leased for oil and gas development (see here and follow hyperlink for Table 2, Acreage in Effect) at the close of BLM’s 2017 fiscal year – the last year in which BLM has provided oil and gas statistics. At the same time, oil and gas companies had less than 1.2 million acres of those leased lands in production (here – follow hyperlink for Table 6, Acreage of Producing Leases).
More information regarding BLM’s March 2019 lease sale is available here.
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January 30th, 2019The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the outstanding wilderness throughout Utah and the management of these lands in their natural state for the benefit of all Americans.
SUWA promotes local and national recognition of the region’s unique character through research and public education; supports both administrative and legislative initiatives to permanently protect wild places within the National Park and National Wilderness Preservation Systems, or by other protective designations where appropriate; builds support for such initiatives on both the local and national level; and provides leadership within the conservation movement through uncompromising advocacy for wilderness preservation.
Job Description Summary:
The Seasonal Field Technician is an independent contractor position focused on inventorying wilderness-quality lands and impacts to wilderness values on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, with an overall emphasis on motorized routes in and around proposed wilderness units. The position requires extensive travel in remote locations, including the San Rafael Swell and Desert, Henry Mountains, Canyon Rims, and Kanab regions. The Technician will play a key role in collecting data that will be used for ongoing travel management planning. The inventories will involve photographing and documenting motorized routes, public land resources, and adverse impacts using tablets and/or phones. Necessary data collection, mapping, and GPS technology will be provided. The position involves consecutive long and difficult days, extensive periods of time in remote regions, rigorous physical activity, and substantial amounts of backcountry driving, often on rugged and technical four-wheel-drive roads (a field vehicle will be provided). The position reports directly to SUWA’s Field Director, with additional supervision by SUWA’s Wildlands Program Director.
Responsibilities:
- Conduct field inventories of wilderness-quality lands and impacts to wilderness values, with a focus on inventorying motorized routes in and around proposed wilderness units.
- Organization of photographs and information following field trips, along with additional data entry from prior inventory trips, in SUWA’s Salt Lake office.
- Provide timely inventory data to SUWA’s Field Director.
Requisite Skills:
- Education and/or field experiences related to public lands or wilderness management.
- Experience recreating or working in wilderness or backcountry settings, including knowledge and proficiency in backcountry travel and route-finding.
- Experience driving on rugged, four-wheel-drive roads in remote locations, as well as experience dealing with unexpected vehicle issues.
- Ability to implement field data collection protocols accurately and completely, with initiative, attention to detail, and an ability to meet deadlines.
- Comfortable spending multiple days in very remote settings and a willingness to camp alone in distant, unimproved wilderness areas.
- Ability to hike, sometimes for long distances, for multiple and often consecutive days.
- Ability to spend more than 4-5 consecutive days at a time in remote locations without cell phone service.
- Ability to read, understand, and route-find using topographical maps.
- Ability to work in all types of weather conditions, including harsh and often high-temperature desert environments.
- Demonstrated commitment to wilderness preservation and advocacy.
- Commitment to working at least 8 to 12 weeks between the spring and fall of 2019.
- Possess a valid, state-issued driver’s license and clean driving record.
- Prior experience with wilderness inventory and monitoring protocols desirable but not required.
Location:
- Based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, with extensive travel throughout the state.
Compensation:
- SUWA offers competitive pay, based on relevant experience.
Interested applicants should send a resume and cover letter addressed to Ray Bloxham at hiring@suwa.org. Please indicate date range that you are available to work in your cover letter. Any questions should be directed to hiring@suwa.org. We will begin reviewing applications on February 19, 2019 and will review additional applications on a rolling basis. We will accept applications until the position is filled.
SUWA is committed to workplace diversity and inclusion. SUWA is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
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January 29th, 2019For Immediate Release
January 29, 2019Contact: Stephen Bloch, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 801.428.3981
Salt Lake City — In a remarkable about-face following a protest from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) announced yesterday that it had dropped its proposal to sell twelve oil and gas leases totaling roughly 5,700 acres located on SITLA-managed lands within the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument to the highest bidder.
While these SITLA-managed lands contain the same irreplaceable cultural and paleontological resources that are found on adjacent federal public lands, they are not formally part of the monument. Two of the proposed leases were also immediately adjacent to Canyonlands National Park and several proposed leases were visible from the popular Anticline and Needles overlooks. A number of the leases were also in the Lockhart Basin proposed wilderness area.
Last Friday, January 25th, SUWA protested SITLA’s proposed leasing decision and urged the agency to defer leasing until the federal litigation challenging Trump’s unlawful rollback of the monument has been resolved.
“SITLA made the right decision to withdraw the twelve protested oil and gas leases on SITLA-managed lands within the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument,” said Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “We hope that SITLA will continue to defer leasing in Bears Ears until the federal litigation challenging President Trump’s unlawful attack on the monument has been resolved and the agency can pursue a land exchange that benefits Utah’s schoolchildren and protects irreplaceable cultural and paleontological resources.”
Four of the twelve protested parcels received bids but SITLA announced yesterday that it had withdrawn the parcels from sale and would refund the high bidder monies. SITLA also announced that none of the twelve parcels would be available for non-competitive leasing for the next several months, as is usually the case.
On December 4, 2017, President Trump purported to dismantle Bears Ears National Monument and designate two much smaller monuments, Indian Creek and Shash Jaa’. There are currently three lawsuits pending in federal district court for the District of Columbia challenging President Trump’s unlawful action; the lead case is Hopi Tribe et al. v. Trump. SUWA is a plaintiff in one of the other lawsuits, a case referred to as Natural Resources Defense Council et al. v. Trump. Each of these lawsuits asks a federal judge to declare unlawful and invalidate President Trump’s December 4, 2017 proclamation. Such a decision would have significant bearing on access to any SITLA oil and gas lease sold within the original boundaries of Bears Ears, access which is subject to federal regulation and control. SITLA’s solicitation for this lease sale contained no mention of the fact that the leases are within the original boundaries of Bears Ears, nor did it advise potential bidders that Trump’s unlawful action is the subject of three lawsuits.
The proposed sale of these leases was also contrary to SITLA’s mandate to manage its lands for both short and long term economic gain and, when necessary, to consider a land exchange which would preserve unique non-economic values (such as the cultural, paleontological, and biological resources in Bears Ears). This is precisely why President Obama’s proclamation establishing Bears Ears National Monument called on the Secretary of the Interior to explore a land exchange with the State of Utah for all SITLA-managed lands in the monument. Unfortunately, the State refused to pursue such an exchange. SITLA’s mission is “[a]dministering trust lands prudently and profitably for Utah’s schoolchildren and other trust beneficiaries.”
Resources for reporters:
Photos of the leases are available for media use here.
A map of the twelve leases is available here.
Learn about the Five Native American Tribes working to protect Bears Ears.
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