This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Jon Huntsman Jr. pitched himself as an environmental and public lands moderate during his campaign for governor, pledging to protect Utah's most precious natural treasures while at the same time promising to fight for access to forest, mining and energy resources on federal land.
"We need balance in our approach to public lands," the Republican said before and after defeating Democrat Scott Matheson Jr. last November.
But balance depends on the vantage point.
A little over four months into his first term, Huntsman's rural constituents are happy enough with his approach to public lands issues. But the state's environmental and outdoor recreation communities are getting nervous.
"We are working with the governor. We believe he understands the importance of conservation for the long-term economic vibrancy of Utah," says Peter Metcalf, CEO of Black Diamond Equipment, a Holladay-based outdoor recreation company. "But we are concerned about what we're seeing coming out of his administration. What's happening seems to be contrary to the principles he has articulated and contrary to the economic goals of the state."
Since Huntsman's inauguration the state has:
l Intervened in a lawsuit whose stated aim is to shrink the size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
l Joined San Juan County in another suit seeking ownership of an undeveloped road, essentially a stream bed, that runs through Canyonlands National Park.
l Given notice another complaint will be filed over road closures ordered by the Bureau of Land Management to regulate off-highway vehicle use in the San Rafael Swell.
l At least temporarily mothballed a memorandum of understanding that then-Gov. Mike Leavitt negotiated with the Department of Interior to process state claims made under RS 2477 - a Civil War-era law, repealed in 1976, that granted rights of way across federal land. The state also has taken down a Web site originally created to keep the public apprised of the process.
On the other side of the ledger, Huntsman has gotten high marks for his push to consolidate efforts under a new Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office - passed into law during the past legislative session - as well as the creation of an outdoor recreation task force. He has backed efforts toward a comprehensive wilderness settlement in Washington County. And Huntsman was the first Utah governor to address the huge Outdoor Retailer convention, telling vendors that recreation-based tourism is a cornerstone of his economic development plan.
However, those the governor has named to oversee public lands - from Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert to Rural Affairs Coordinator Gayle McKeachnie and Public Lands Coordinator Lynn Stevens to Natural Resources Director Mike Styler - are longtime proponents of the pro-rural, pro-development side of the debate, leading some to question how committed Huntsman really is to protecting the state's most sensitive lands.
"It's difficult to predict what kind of choices the Huntsman administration will make on these issues, but the clearest indication so far is the people who have been appointed," says Randy Simmons, a Utah State University political science professor. "Looking at his appointees, there's a strong indication that what's being promoted is the agenda of the rural counties."
The governor's office did not respond to requests for interviews with Huntsman or Herbert. But McKeachnie, who served as lieutenant governor under Gov. Olene Walker, says Huntsman is fully committed to both a conservation and development agenda. And he argues that Huntsman can have it both ways.
"I don't see an inconsistency between preserving and promoting our outdoor recreation gems and getting an oil field in or a road for school buses or search-and-rescue vehicles," McKeachnie says. "We can go forward full speed on both - and the state will be better for it."
Certainly, Huntsman has a track record as a land-use progressive, owing to his past tenure as chairman of Envision Utah, the state's growth planning partner. He remains honorary co-chairman of the organization.
Nevertheless, environmental organizations, outdoor recreation groups and some businesses are sufficiently uneasy with the administration's direction on public lands issues that they recently took out full-page ads in Salt Lake City's two daily newspapers to state their concerns.
Essentially, environmentalists would like a place at Huntsman's table - and they don't feel they have one at the moment.
"What gives us some heartburn is that there is not a loud voice for conservation and wilderness preservation on Capitol Hill," says Heidi McIntosh, conservation director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "So we want to make sure that there's an accurate understanding about the broad scope of support for preserving Utah's spectacular wild places. It's not just SUWA. It extends into the business community and elsewhere."
At least some of the angst Huntsman has created in the "green" community can be attributed to early first-term missteps - that's the administration's explanation, anyway.
After word came that the state would intervene in the Mountain States Legal Federation's lawsuit challenging the size of the 1.7 million-acre Grand Staircase monument, Huntsman quickly backtracked, saying he was "not in favor of shrinking the monument." Yet, environmentalists pointed out that the suit the state jumped into implicitly seeks a reduction of the monument's size and Utah's intervention brief challenged the president's authority to create the monument and "determine its size."
Says McKeachnie: "I'm not saying it would be different now, but we've gotten better at explaining more clearly where we're coming from."
State officials also insist they have not backed off Leavitt's memorandum of understanding. Rather, they say, they are waiting for the BLM to process the original six claims they have presented.
"If and when the BLM grants the six roads we've applied for, we'll file some more," says Assistant Attorney General Mark Ward. "We'll file as many as they'll let us."
BLM official Kent Hoffman says the agency is capable of handling up to 10 claims at a time. He notes that four of the original six claims will be processed by early summer and has invited the state to submit more.
Huntsman has downplayed lawsuits as a way to resolve public lands disputes, so the state's recent litigious ways on roads issues has surprised and dismayed some. But others have cheered Huntsman's team on.
"We're getting more support from the Governor's Office in this administration than previous administrations," says Kane County Commissioner Dan Hulet. "We appreciate the support they've given us and we hope it continues."
Hulet and his fellow Kane County commissioners could be looking for additional state backing as soon as Tuesday - the deadline the BLM has given the county to remove what it calls a series of illegal county road signs on BLM land, including a wilderness study area and the Grand Staircase monument. Hulet says the county has no intention of removing the signs, setting up a potential legal showdown between the county and the feds.
Whether Kane County's situation forces Huntsman to take a stand remains to be seen. The same might be said of the governor's long-term approach to Utah's public lands.
"It's still very early," says USU's Simmons. "Part of the question is who is Huntsman lis- tening to. We don't really know. So he could well have an agenda that's much more give and take than we have seen in the past."
If Huntsman could, for example, solve wilderness disputes while opening county road claims through federal lands, he says, the governor could declare victory on both sides of the equation.
"Is he trying to have it both ways? Sure he is," says Simmons. "But what governor hasn't?"