The St. George BLM is holding open houses next week for its recently released draft National Conservation Area (NCA) management plan. As you may recall, the 2009 Washington County public lands bill (the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009) created two NCAs near St. George, Utah: the 63,478-acre Beaver Dam Wash NCA and the 44,859-acre Red Cliffs NCA. Both were created to “conserve, protect, and enhance . . . the ecological, scenic, wildlife, recreational, cultural, historical, natural, educational, and scientific resources” of the protected lands.
Subsequent to NCA designation, the St. George BLM was tasked with developing a comprehensive Resource Management Plan (RMP) that dictates how the lands will be managed in a way that meets the above-stated purpose.
The public comment period for the RMP began on July 17, 2015 and ends on October 15, 2015. In order to provide information to the public, the BLM will hold three open houses the first week of September in southern Utah and the Wasatch Front. The open house schedule is as follows:
September 1, 6pm-8pm
Dixie Center
1835 Convention Center
St. George, UT
September 2, 6pm-8pm
Hurricane City Office
147 North 870 West
Hurricane, UT
September 3, 6pm-8pm
Red Lion Hotel
161 West 600 South
Salt Lake City, UT
If you’re concerned about the Beaver Dam Wash and Red Cliffs NCAs and want to see them properly managed to protect wildlife and wilderness values, please attend one of the above open houses.
We will send a more detailed alert prior to the October 15, 2015 comment deadline. In the meantime, the draft NCA plan is available for review on the BLM’s website. SUWA supports Alternative C, which is the most protective for wildlands and wildlife.
