BLM Continues to Target Wild Book Cliffs Region for Oil & Gas Leasing
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Back in October, we asked you to submit preliminary “scoping” comments on an upcoming oil and gas lease sale impacting Utah’s wild Book Cliffs region. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has now moved to the next phase of this process and is proposing to sell 58 lease parcels spanning nearly 72,000 acres in eastern Utah.
Development of these leases would threaten wilderness-caliber lands as well as big game, black bear, and greater sage-grouse habitat. Some of the parcels are located in the scenic White River corridor—a remarkable landscape managed for the protection of its stunning visual and riparian values.
Marching lockstep with the Trump administration’s priorities, the BLM prepared a draft environmental analysis that falls far short of what the law requires. For example, the BLM is required to prioritize new leasing outside of greater sage-grouse habitat. But in this case, the agency admits to having “prioritized leasing in greater sage-grouse habitat”—the exact opposite of what the law requires.
>> Take Action: The BLM is accepting public comments on its First Quarter 2026 lease sale through January 2. Please tell the agency to keep dirty energy development out of sage-grouse habitat and other wild places in the Book Cliffs region.
State of Utah Hosts Closed-Door Meeting on National Parks
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In early December, during a closed-door meeting with the Department of the Interior, the State of Utah laid out its latest effort to undermine and dismantle the nation’s public lands system: a plan for the state to have significant influence over national parks, especially in the area of visitor use, management, and new development.
During the meeting, the Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office, along with many county commissioners, members of the Utah Legislature, and staff from Utah’s congressional delegation presented a laundry list of grievances and demands for each of Utah’s “Mighty 5” national parks, including:
- Allowing off-highway vehicles (OHVs) in Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks.
- Ending timed entry at Zion and Arches National Parks.
- Eliminating other permit systems and increasing visitation numbers to all park units.
- Paving a stretch of the Burr Trail in Capitol Reef National Park, a backcountry road that winds between Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Utah politicians have been scheming to pave the entire Burr Trail for more than 50 years.
For additional details, read our press release with a quote from Wildlands Director Neal Clark as well as coverage from National Parks Traveler, SFGate, the Salt Lake Tribune, and Outside Online.
Photo © David Pettit
Tell Your Senators to Oppose Nomination of Steve Pearce as BLM Director
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As we mentioned in our last Redrock Report, President Trump has nominated former New Mexico Congressman and longtime public lands opponent Steve Pearce to serve as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). SUWA strongly opposes the appointment.
Pearce has long championed the oil and gas industry’s unrestrained drilling and fracking rights at the expense of Americans’ access to public lands, clean air, and clear water. He also supports selling off public lands and was an original cosponsor of legislation that would undermine the Antiquities Act—bedrock legislation used by presidents from both parties to protect deserving and irreplaceable scientific and cultural resources. If the Senate votes to confirm Pearce as BLM Director, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments will be at significant risk.
If you haven’t yet done so, please urge your senators to vote against Steve Pearce’s confirmation as BLM director.
>> Click here to contact your senators now
Photo © Ray Bloxham/SUWA
Modena Canyon Spared from Mine (at Least for Now)
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Good news! For now, the remote and scenic Modena Canyon in Utah’s West Desert region is safe from the bellows and dust of hydraulic excavators, impact crushers, industrial haul trucks, and other mining equipment. On November 9th, an administrative law judge granted the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) request to set aside its own decision authorizing the Modena Mine project in order to “revisit the matter to ensure consistency with applicable law and BLM policies.” SUWA had just filed an administrative appeal challenging the agency’s decision.
The almost 20-acre pozzolan mine area (pozzolan is used as an additive for concrete) covers a small ridge directly adjacent to the winding, unpaved Modena Canyon Road, which forms the border between the Crook Creek and Paradise Mountain proposed wilderness areas. The decision also approved a 5-acre gravel pit several miles south of the mine that would facilitate the roadwork necessary to enable up to 40 industrial haul trucks per day to travel through the scenic canyon.
If it decides to move forward with this project, the BLM will issue a new Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for a minimum 15-day public comment period. We’re watching closely and will keep you updated.
>> Read more about the Modena Mine project in our autumn/winter 2025 issue of Redrock Wilderness.
Photo © SUWA
Stewardship Program Wraps Up a Challenging but Rewarding Field Season
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Though our 2025 season has come to a close, SUWA’s Stewardship Team is as busy as ever, meeting with agency staff in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, the West Desert, and Moab’s canyon country.
This year, our Stewardship Program facilitated 23 projects for 215 volunteers over 74 project days. When the government shutdown hit, our staff quickly pivoted, remaining on the ground throughout the fall to review recent work sites and develop proposals for future projects. Despite the political setbacks, we brought more volunteers out on the land this year than last.
Our team is now focused on creating what we hope will be one of the highlights of your year in 2026. Come late winter, we’ll release our spring/early summer 2026 Stewardship Project Calendar. In the meantime, take a moment to apply here and be among the first to learn what we will have on offer next year.
See our year-end wrap-up to learn more about the Stewardship Program’s 2025 season and what we’ve accomplished, with your support, over the past decade.
