The conservation organization announced this week that the 9.5 million acres included in the proposed Red Rock Wilderness Act will be a top priority for protection during the coming decade, along with other cherished places in the United States, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

The campaign for Utah's wildlands will focus on the increasing damage caused by off-road vehicles, said Wayne Hoskisson, the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club's delegate to the Utah Wilderness Coalition.

A Moab resident, Hoskisson said he daily sees evidence of OHV damage off of established trails.

Hoskisson was particularly concerned when he read the recently released BLM Moab district draft resource-management plan that identified 32 non-wilderness areas with wilderness qualities, but would allow motorized recreation in all but one of the areas.

Utah's redrock region is a perennial target for Sierra Club conservation efforts. Now that it has been named a top priority for the next 10 years, protecting the wildlands will further benefit from the organization's funding and staffers.

Hoskisson said the Sierra Club is pushing for congressional oversight committee hearings on what seems to be a rush to finish Utah BLM land management plans that contain what the organization believes to be excessive deference to oil and gas development and OHV use before the Bush administration ends.

The "America's Wild Legacy report" announcing the Sierra Club's new America's Wild Legacy Conservation Initiative is available at www.sierraclub.org/wildlegacy/52places/.