This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As a United States Air Force veteran, I know the importance of a strong national defense.
At the same time, as a Utahn, West Desert resident and avid outdoorsman, I know the importance of protecting Utah's wild places, keeping them roadless and preserving them for future generations.
I believe we can have it both ways, and that is why Rep. Chris Stewart and Sen. Orrin Hatch's recently introduced bills expanding the Utah Test and Training Range is so extremely disappointing and ultimately unacceptable in its current form.
Their bills would effectively expand the range by approximately 625,000 acres, ostensibly to prevent encroachments and provide more space to test new weapons. Missing, however, is any record that the Air Force has asked for this expansion or documented that it is necessary. Making sure that this expansion is warranted is a prerequisite to seriously considering this legislation.
There are also several provisions in the bills — or missing from the bills — that must be fixed.
First, the bills would give Juab, Tooele and Box Elder counties approximately 5,000 miles of claimed "R.S. 2477 rights-of-way" across federal lands carte blanche. Included in the mix are faded two-tracks and long forgotten cow paths in my backyard — western Utah's Deep Creek Mountains, where motor vehicle use causes erosion and sedimentation in fragile Bonneville Trout habitat. I know these impacts to these fragile lands well from my work as a federal biologist for more than 30 years working in the West Desert to restore our state fish to its native streams.
The legislation would also grant rights-of-way in other wild places like the Fish Springs wilderness study area and Cedar Mountains Wilderness. There are also right-of-way claims that would be granted through culturally sensitive areas for the Goshute Tribe. This public lands giveaway has no connection whatsoever to promoting the Utah Test and Training Range and instead smacks of the worst kind of crony politics. It has no place in these bills and should be removed.
Second, the bills should seize the opportunity to both ensure the future of the West Desert's wildest places, as well as Utah Test and Training Range. Places like the Deep Creek Mountains, whose peaks tower more than 12,000 feet above the desert floor, and the mirage-like Newfoundland Mountains extending into the Great Salt Lake deserve to be protected as wilderness for current and future generations. Unfortunately, in their current form the bills do nothing of the sort. This should be changed before Congress gives the bills serious consideration.
Last, while the bills provide for the creation of a "community resource group" to provide input to the BLM and Air Force about the expansion, there is no seat at the table for residents of our small communities of Callao, Trout Creek, Partoun, Gold Hill and Gandy. It is our families, homes and ranches that will be most impacted by the proposed expansion and we deserve a voice as well.
I support our nation's military and remain active today in veteran's issues to ensure that those who served are not left by the wayside. Expanding the Utah Test and Training Range may be in our country's best interest, but it must be done in a way that recognizes and protects western Utah's unique wild places. Anything less would be a disservice.
Don Duff served in the United States Air Force during the Cold War and then worked across the West for the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service. He splits his time between his ranch near Callao and Salt Lake City.