This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Though Rep. Rob Bishop might have begun his Public Lands Initiative in good faith, the opposition of a few powerful officials in sparsely populated counties together with energy developers and ranchers, who stand to profit privately by exploiting America's public lands, completely derailed such efforts. Bishop eliminated meaningful public input by excluding everyone from his local hearings except the residents of southeastern Utah counties.
Instead of a grand compromise worked out by all stakeholders, as Bishop claimed in his subcommittee hearing, we have a disastrous proposal engineered by powerful private interests. It includes appropriating millions of acres of the people's land for fossil fuel energy development and its consequent climate damage; in fact reducing the total acres of land now receiving protection as wilderness; designating sham "conservation areas" that allow clearcutting forest lands and prioritize grazing over native vegetation, stable stream banks and clean water; codifying thousands of miles of motorized trails improperly designated under Bush-era plans; and failing to provide meaningful protection for the Bears Ears area as proposed by a coalition of Native American tribes.
All who love Utah's extraordinary public lands, including the Bears Ears area, deserve better.
Kathryn Fitzgerald
Salt Lake City