This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The governor "doth protest too much, methinks." William Shakespeare's famous line from Hamlet sprang to mind after reading Gov. Gary Herbert's op-ed in last Sunday's Tribune, "Utah loves its public lands," which went to great lengths to proclaim Utah elected officials' passion for doing right by the land.
In fact, it is quite the opposite. Utah is ground zero for the some of the most egregious acts by elected officials seeking to disenfranchise hundreds of millions of Americans from their federal public lands. Here are just a few examples of initiatives that have unfolded under Herbert's watch.
From 2011-2012, Utah filed 27 lawsuits claiming title to more than 12,000 alleged rights-of-way, totaling more than 35,000 miles, that crisscross national parks, national monuments, national wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas. Most of these alleged 'RS 2477 highways' are little more than two-tracks or cattle trails that vanish into the desert. Why would the state spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on this fool's errand? Utah politicians have been explicit about their goal: this suite of litigation seeks to give Utah the power to riddle our wildest places with paved roads, thus disqualifying them from future wilderness designation.
In 2012, the Utah Legislature passed — and Governor Herbert signed — the "Transfer of Public Lands Act," which demanded that the federal government hand over control of virtually all of Utah's federal public lands to the state by the end of 2014. That deadline has come and gone, yet the Legislature continues to burn through taxpayer money, scheming to file a lawsuit to take away federal public lands from the American people and give them to Utah politicians who will then proceed to sell them off outright, or lease them for development, to make ends meet. That's a strange way for Utah politicians to show their love for the land.
In 2014, San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman led a band of scofflaws on an illegal off-road vehicle ride into archaeologically-rich Recapture Canyon. Lyman was later convicted by a jury of two federal misdemeanors. But rather than promote the rule of law, Herbert publicly expressed his support for Lyman and donated generously to Lyman's legal defense, as did Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox and many Utah legislators.
Most recently, Herbert, the Utah Legislature, and every member of Utah's congressional delegation have called on President Donald Trump to do away with the recently designated Bears Ears National Monument. Herbert claims in his op-ed that he and his colleagues have raised "principled concerns" about how the monument was established, including complaints that the president "ignored meaningful local input."
We all know the real score about the Bears Ears National Monument, the first and only national monument to be established at the urging of Native American nations. The monument protects areas and artifacts sacred to Native Americans and immigrants (the rest of us) alike. It also lays the groundwork for Native Americans to participate in how the monument is managed through a Bears Ears Commission comprised of tribal representatives who will "provide guidance and recommendations" to federal land managers.
And finally, the boundaries of the monument closely match the boundaries put forth for protection in Rep. Rob Bishop's Public Lands Initiative, a bill supported by the governor and the entire delegation — exactly the kind of "meaningful local input" that the governor now falsely claims was ignored.
Ironically, the governor's op-ed highlighted the "annual $3 million promotion" by Utah's tourism office of our state's national parks. Surely he knows that four of the "Mighty Five" national parks were first protected as national monuments, despite cries from Utah political leaders of the day about federal overreach. Utah politicians were wrong then and are wrong now. (The Utah Tourism Board has taken a more positive approach than Herbert, already promoting the new Bears Ears monument on its website.)
Herbert did, however, get one thing right: by an overwhelming majority Utahns love their federal public lands and want to see them protected from the shortsighted scheming of our congressional delegation, legislators and parochial county commissioners. Talk is cheap. It is time for Herbert's actions to match his rhetoric. Standing up for the Bears Ears National Monument would be a good place to start.
Steve Bloch is the legal director and an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Utah's oldest and largest non-profit conservation organization.