The Washington County land bill, which Bennett drafted with Rep. Jim Matheson, remains politically sensitive.
County government leaders feeling the strains of persistent population growth complain about the thousands of acres that would become protected wilderness areas. Environmental groups continue to seek more restrictions on off-road vehicle use and harbor concerns about the sale of public lands.
"We've got a product that has been endorsed, however reluctantly, on all sides," Bennett said. "Nobody got what his or her group wanted absolutely."
But the grudging support is much more than Bennett, a Republican, and Matheson, a Democrat, could muster in their last attempt in 2006.
That version of the bill was met with strong resistance from environmental groups and at least eight Democratic senators who complained about the number of acres of public lands that would be sold to private interests.
After that attempt stalled, Bennett and Matheson took a step back. They have spent more than a year negotiating with interested parties and incorporating the recommendations from Vision Dixie, a wide-ranging land-use planning project conducted in consultation with the county government.
The new version would permanently protect an additional 123,000 acres of wilderness and reduce the land available to sell from 24,300 acres to a little more than 9,000 acres.
"The money that will be raised by the sale of public lands will be used to benefit conservation projects," Bennett said.
Some of the same groups that blasted the 2006 bill are responding to this version with optimism, though tempered by some lingering concerns.
William Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society called the bill "a real improvement."
The Nature Conservancy said the legislation "has earned our support."
And Scott Groene, from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said that while the bill in its current form is "not acceptable," he thinks continued work with Utah's congressional delegation could result in "legislation that all people can support."
In particular, SUWA and a collection of other environmental groups still decry the sale of public lands "being used as a piggy bank by local developers."
Groene also said the protections for wilderness are insufficient and restrictions on off-road vehicle use are lacking.
Washington County Commissioner Alan Gardner said he supports the bill, but he doesn't sound happy about it.
He said: "We got beat up on" in the negotiations, but "politically speaking, I think this is the best we are going to do.
"There is way too much wilderness in it as far as we are concerned," Gardner said.
The bill would lock up about 265,000 acres from any future use, including mining.
Other provisions in the bill would create conservation areas that would protect the endangered desert tortoise and designate more than 165 miles of the Virgin River around Zion National Park under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which would be the first such designation in the state.
The Washington County bill is modeled after legislation pushed by Nevada's senators in 2006. That bill was unanimously approved. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has encouraged Bennett to continue working on the Utah version, which has been five years in the making.
"This has been as tough an issue as I have ever had to deal with," Bennett said.
The bill is tentatively scheduled to get its first hearing in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in late April.
Matheson plans on introducing an identical version of the bill in the House later this month.
He said: "This new bill shows that bipartisan effort - with all interested stakeholders - can resolve long-running contentious public land issues in a way that protects the land, the economy and the way of life in Washington County."
mcanham@sltrib.com
