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Media Advisory – SUWA Press Conference on Wednesday, December 18 at 11 a.m.

Dec 16th, 2024 Written by suwa

December 16, 2024

Media Advisory – SUWA Press Conference on Wednesday, December 18 at 11 a.m.

Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org

What: The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) will announce significant steps being taken in response to the State of Utah’s unlawful efforts to force the potential sell-off of public lands in Utah and across the West.

When: Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 11 a.m. 

Where: Mountain Dell Terrace in Washington Square Park (west side of the Salt Lake City and County Building, facing State Street); you can also watch via a “live” video on our Facebook page; this video will begin a few minutes before 11 a.m.

Questions?: Reach out to Grant Stevens, Communications Director at SUWA; (319) 427-0260 or grant@suwa.org

Additional information:

In August 2024, the State filed an unprecedented lawsuit at the United States Supreme Court seeking an order requiring that the federal government begin selling off or otherwise “disposing” of more than 18.5 million acres of public lands in Utah. If successful, this effort would ripple across the West and threaten to privatize more than 200 million acres of public lands.

In support of its dangerous lawsuit and in an effort to confuse the public, the State is spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money on a propaganda campaign – dubbed “Let Utah Manage Utah Lands” – that fundamentally misstates both the facts and goals of its unprecedented lawsuit.

  • As the State concedes in its legal filings, the public lands that are the target of its lawsuit were never owned by Utah. Instead, Native American Tribes have lived in what is present-day Utah for time immemorial and the federal government acquired all the lands comprising Utah from Mexico in 1848. 
  • In the Utah Constitution and as a condition of entry to the Union, the citizens of Utah “forever disclaim all right and title” to the unappropriated public lands within Utah’s borders. The State’s lawsuit seeks to re-write the agreement that allowed it to become a part of the United States.

If successful, the State’s lawsuit will not result in public lands automatically being given to Utah but instead would start a “disposal” process which could lead to the sale of millions of acres of public lands to the highest bidder.