For Immediate Release
April 1, 2016
After three years of meetings and negotiations, Rep. Rob Bishop released a draft of his “grand bargain” Public Lands Initiative in January. This proposed legislation was intended to settle the land disputes in multiple Utah counties for good.
One of the stakeholders in the process, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), has now been recognized by Bishop with the “PLI Participation Award.”
![Bishop_Award_Final](https://suwa.org/wp-content/uploads/Bishop_Award_Final.png)
“I wanted to make sure that SUWA was recognized for its valiant efforts to establish wilderness areas, even though I decided that there wouldn’t be any true wilderness in my bill,” said Bishop of the events leading up to the award. “They tried to make the PLI an actual conservation bill but I just wasn’t feeling it.”
SUWA’s Ray Bloxham, shown receiving the award from Rep. Bishop in the photo above, said “We did everything we could to ensure that wilderness-quality lands were protected, but all we got was this lousy plaque. And millions of acres of Energy Zones. And roll-backs of current protections. And a bunch of ridiculous RS 2477 claims. Need I go on?”
The award was presented in passing at the South Salt Lake Chipotle, a place that both SUWA and Rep. Bishop could agree on as neutral ground. “There’s no consolation prize like a big fat burrito,” said Bloxham.