Washington • Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday said he wants to pass a massive public lands package before Congress adjourns for the year, and bills affecting Utah are part of the mix.

Reid, who is keeping the Senate in session this weekend, said the 110 bills in the America's Great Outdoors Act of 2010 are aimed at improving and protecting the nation's public lands, waterways, natural resources and wildlife.

If passed, the measure would bring $12 million for water projects in Magna and wipe out debt created by building a hydroelectric power plant in Utah County, among others.

"These are bipartisan bills," Reid said Friday. "There is nothing divisive about protecting historic battlefields, improving our most critical water sources, or making sure that our best wildlife habitat remains wild and healthy."

The House previously passed the Magna bill, as well as one that would have the federal government forgive the cost of building part of the Central Utah Project that a developer would have had to pay back.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said the congressman "would be very pleased" if the measures clear Congress this year.

But Reid's effort to pass the package doesn't sit well with at least one member of Utah's federal delegation, even though some of his ideas are included in it.

Rep. Rob Bishop says he would oppose any big lands package because he believes it's a tool to get controversial legislation into law that wouldn't pass on its own.

"Any time there is an omnibus lands bill, it means the process failed," he said.

The Senate is set to vote Saturday on moving forward legislation dealing with immigration and gays in the military, but the public lands bill could come up for a vote early next week.

tburr@sltrib.com, mcanham@sltrib.com