Good News: CRA Attack Fails, Grand Staircase-Escalante Protections Remain in Place!
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As you’ve likely heard by now, the fast-track attempt by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative Celeste Maloy (R-UT-02) to undo the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Management Plan has failed! This is a major victory for the entire Protect Wild Utah movement, public lands advocates across the country, and most importantly, the landscape itself.
Back in March, Sen. Lee and Rep. Maloy introduced “joint resolutions” to disapprove the monument management plan. They did this using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a little-known law with a provision that allows Congress to pass a CRA joint resolution by simple majority votes. But there’s a catch: the Senate must act within 60 session days or the resolution is subject to the 60-vote filibuster and regular legislative process. Lee missed that critical deadline on June 11, which effectively kills the resolution’s chance of passing in that chamber.
By raising your voice in opposition to Lee and Maloy, you made a difference! Thank you for standing with Grand Staircase-Escalante and SUWA at this critical moment. Take time to celebrate the important victory we just achieved together.
>> Learn more on our blog and read recent news coverage in the Salt Lake Tribune, ABC4 Utah, More Than Just Parks, and Rocky Mountain Community Radio.
Photo © Tim Peterson
More Good News: BLM Pulls Back on 500,000-Acre West Desert Vegetation Project
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This spring, SUWA, along with our partners at Western Watersheds Project and the Center for Biological Diversity, challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) approval of the Indian Peak Range Watershed Restoration Plan, a sweeping West Desert vegetation project authorizing prescribed fire and mechanical treatments across roughly 560,000 acres of important wildlife habitat near the Indian Peak Range, the Wah Wah Mountains, Hamlin Valley, Pine Valley, and Blue Mountain. The project included heavy-handed mastication and chaining of pinyon-juniper woodlands and sagebrush shrublands.
The agency ignored public recommendations, failed to map where treatments would occur, and offered no real analysis of impacts to wilderness-quality lands, wildlife, and native ecosystems—despite the fact that a nearly identical Hamlin Valley project had already been vacated after our previous appeal and the agency had committed to more thorough analysis on similar projects in the future.
After SUWA filed an appeal of the BLM’s decision in May, the agency moved to vacate its own approval and reconsider the project. This is good news, but the fight isn’t over yet. The BLM says it expects to publish a revised environmental assessment, which means it may try again to advance this large-scale cutting and burning proposal without proper review. We’ll let you know if and when that happens.
Photo © Ray Bloxham/SUWA
Trump Rolls Back Longstanding Executive Orders that Reined in ORV Use on Public Lands
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On a Friday evening in late May, President Trump announced the repeal of two executive orders that govern off-road vehicle (ORV) use on public lands nationwide. He also directed federal land management agencies to rescind or revise their regulations implementing these orders, setting the stage for chaos and confusion across the country.
For roughly 50 years, these orders—issued under Presidents Nixon and Carter—have helped protect streams, wildlife habitat, and opportunities for safe recreation by providing clear and consistent guidance for motorized and nonmotorized users on Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and National Park Service lands. The orders also empowered agencies to act swiftly to close areas to ORVs when they are causing or will cause considerable damage to natural and cultural resources.
Trump’s latest action flips that script by directing agencies to prioritize ORV use over all other activities and at the expense of clean water, wildlife habitat, cultural sites, and the experience of motorized and non-motorized recreationists alike. For now, regulations implementing the two executive orders remain in place, as do existing travel management plans. We expect, however, that the Trump administration will work quickly to weaken if not outright eliminate both the regulations and individual plans.
>> Learn more on SUWA’s blog and read a recent op-ed in the Santa Fe New Mexican by former national BLM Director and SUWA Board Member Jim Baca.
Photo © Ray Bloxham/SUWA
Help Us Grow Support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act
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America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act (ARRWA), the foundational legislation of the Protect Wild Utah movement, aims to permanently protect over 8 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Utah as federally designated wilderness. Preserving the wild character of this spectacular and world-renowned landscape would keep climate-disrupting fossil fuels in the ground and provide a vital migration corridor for western wildlife species. As the ancestral home of many Native American tribes, the region also contains abundant and significant cultural resources.
The latest members of Congress to sign on as cosponsors of ARRWA include Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA-52), Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-OR-5), Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-5), and Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ-7). If any of these legislators represent you, please thank them for their support.
Gains in cosponsorship don’t happen by accident; they’re the result of persistent outreach to members of Congress from constituents like you! If your representative and/or senators have not signed onto the bill, please ask them to cosponsor America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act today! Want to get more involved? Reach out to one of our regional organizers.
>> Click here to contact your members of Congress now
Photo © Chris Noble
County Rushes to Chip Seal Hole-in-the-Rock Road at Heart of Grand Staircase-Escalante
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Last month, Garfield County began chip sealing (effectively paving) the first 10 miles of Hole-in-the-Rock Road within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Surrounded by wilderness-quality lands, this rugged backroad is core to the remote experience that defines the monument, providing access to popular destinations like Spooky and Peek-A-Boo slot canyons, Devil’s Garden, and Coyote Gulch.
In February, SUWA filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that Garfield County and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated federal law when the county began making unauthorized “improvements” to the road. While Garfield County has title to a right-of-way, it does not own the road or the land beneath it (this remains federal public land) and it cannot lawfully take unilateral action to improve the road. Instead, the county is required to consult with the BLM first, and the BLM is required by law to make sure that such activities do not cause unnecessary damage to public lands.
When SUWA learned that the BLM had authorized the county to proceed, we immediately sought a temporary restraining order from the court. When that request was denied, we filed another motion seeking an emergency injunction to pause the county’s work. Unfortunately, the county rushed to complete the paving before the court had a chance to rule on that motion.
Despite all of this, our pending case will continue to proceed in federal court on its merits, and we expect to prevail. But by then the changes to the road and damage to the monument will be done. Paving will lead to more, faster, and louder traffic, changing the remote backcountry experience the monument was created to protect, and that draws visitors from around the world.
Photo © SUWA
Join Canyon Keepers: SUWA’s Monthly Giving Program
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Monthly donors have been part of SUWA’s story for years and continue to provide a consistent, year-round base of financial support for our work. This circle of dedicated members is now called “Canyon Keepers.” If you’re already a monthly donor, thank you! If not, we hope you’ll consider joining this program.
Becoming a Canyon Keeper is simple. It only takes a few minutes to set up, and once you do, your gift renews automatically each month. You can increase, decrease, or pause your support at any time.
To welcome you to the Canyon Keepers circle, we’ll send you a limited-edition Canyon Wren canvas bag to show our gratitude.
>> Click here to become a Canyon Keeper today!
Artwork by Riley Lubich
