In Utah's Dixie, the Zion-Mojave wilderness serves as a scenic backdrop from Springdale to St. George to Ivins. Three distinct provinces -- the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin and Mojave Desert -- meet here, creating a unique and rich part of our state.
    Sen. Bob Bennett has introduced legislation that will heavily influence the future of these public lands. The Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2008 is an improvement over the previous version, and we look forward to working with Congress, including the Utah delegation, to further improve the bill so that it protects the Zion-Mojave wilderness and gains our support. There are three key areas that must be improved.
    First, the bill sets disturbing precedents for using public land sales as a piggy bank to finance local interests. The bill provides for the potential sale of as many as 9,300 acres of Washington County's federal land -- some of which the Bureau of Land Management has not yet reviewed -- and allocates the proceeds of these sales in new ways.
    We are concerned this bill creates expectations among local governments across the West of selling off public lands to fund local projects. The legislation gives 10 percent of all land-sale proceeds to the county, an amount that could swell to $100 million or more, and which in turn could be spent on the controversial pipeline from Lake Powell.
    Some of the proceeds
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could also be given to unnamed "private entities." One thousand acres of our public land would be given free to water developers for reservoir sites. Further, the bill requires the U.S. Forest Service to sell more than 100 acres of national forest to one individual.
    The second area of concern relates to off-road vehicle management. Unmanaged ORV use stands as one of the greatest threats to the wild Zion-Mojave. Washington County has nearly 8,000 registered ORVs and is the county in Utah with the most rapidly increasing number of ORV registrations. Many thousands of out-of-state users add to that number.
    The bill mandates a High Desert Trail, an as-yet-unstudied ORV trail system that will attract more and new ORV use to the area. The bill takes the positive step of requiring the BLM to issue a county-wide travel plan for ORV use, but, as written, it contains loopholes that could shortchange environmental concerns.
    Finally, while we are grateful for the additional lands this bill protects, we must note that the bill leaves unprotected a significant amount of the wilderness-quality land in Washington County.
    The Utah Wilderness Coalition and other citizens of Utah have identified approximately 300,000 acres of BLM public lands that qualify for wilderness designation within Washington County. Sen. Bennett's bill would designate 140,000 acres of BLM wilderness. This leaves many acres unprotected.
    Simply stated, these extraordinary public lands deserve our care and protection.
    We are pleased with the progress that has been made on this bill since last Congress, even as we raise our concern with certain provisions in this legislation. The opportunity is before us to work together to make important changes in this bill that would adequately protect the landscape and communities in Washington County and create a legacy for wilderness bills in Utah that we can all be proud of.
    This is only the beginning, and we look forward to the work ahead.
   
   SCOTT GROENE is executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
   LAWSON LEGATE is southwest regional director of the Sierra Club.