Audience will determine who wins Utah public lands debate

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune
A rider holds his finger off the trigger of his assault rifle as ATV riders make their way into Recapture Canyon, which has been closed to motorized use since 2007. The protest on Saturday, May 10, 2014 north of Blanding, came after a call-to-action by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman.

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune
ATV riders cross into a restricted area of Recapture Canyon, which has been closed to motorized use since 2007. The protest on Saturday, May 10, 2014, north of Blanding, came after a call-to-action by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman.

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune
Robert Bowing attached flags to his ATV in Blanding's Centennial Park on Saturday May 10, 2014, prior to a protest ride into Recapture Canyon, closed to motorized use since 2007 to protect the 7-mile-long canyon's archaeological sites.

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune
Ryan Bundy, son of the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, rides an ATV into Recapture Canyon, which has been closed to motorized use since 2007, after a call-to-action by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman on Saturday, May 10, 2014, north of Blanding.

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune
Stephen Dean of Salt Lake City listens to San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman in Blanding's Centennial Park on Saturday, May 10, 2014, prior to an ATV protest ride into Recapture Canyon, closed to motorized use since 2007 to protect the7-mile long canyon's archaeological sites.

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune
A group of people listen to San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman in Blanding's Centennial Park on Saturday, May 10, 2014, prior to an ATV ride into Recapture Canyon, closed to motorized use since 2007 to protect the 7-mile-long canyon's prehistoric sites.

Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune
Pueblo III-period cliff dwellings created by the Anasazi or Ancestral Puebloan peoples between 1150 and 1300 A.D. in Recapture Canyon near Blanding, Thursday, April 24, 2014. The BLM closed Recapture Canyon to motorized use in 2007 after illegal ATV trail builders caused more than $300,000 in damage to remnants of pit houses and underground storage containers while widening the trail in 2005.

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Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune A rider holds his finger off the trigger of his assault rifle as ATV riders make their way into Recapture Canyon, which has been closed to motorized use since 2007. The protest on Saturday, May 10, 2014 north of Blanding, came after a call-to-action by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune ATV riders cross into a restricted area of Recapture Canyon, which has been closed to motorized use since 2007. The protest on Saturday, May 10, 2014, north of Blanding, came after a call-to-action by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Robert Bowing attached flags to his ATV in Blanding's Centennial Park on Saturday May 10, 2014, prior to a protest ride into Recapture Canyon, closed to motorized use since 2007 to protect the 7-mile-long canyon's archaeological sites. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Ryan Bundy, son of the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, rides an ATV into Recapture Canyon, which has been closed to motorized use since 2007, after a call-to-action by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman on Saturday, May 10, 2014, north of Blanding. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Stephen Dean of Salt Lake City listens to San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman in Blanding's Centennial Park on Saturday, May 10, 2014, prior to an ATV protest ride into Recapture Canyon, closed to motorized use since 2007 to protect the7-mile long canyon's archaeological sites. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune A group of people listen to San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman in Blanding's Centennial Park on Saturday, May 10, 2014, prior to an ATV ride into Recapture Canyon, closed to motorized use since 2007 to protect the 7-mile-long canyon's prehistoric sites. Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Pueblo III-period cliff dwellings created by the Anasazi or Ancestral Puebloan peoples between 1150 and 1300 A.D. in Recapture Canyon near Blanding, Thursday, April 24, 2014. The BLM closed Recapture Canyon to motorized use in 2007 after illegal ATV trail builders caused more than $300,000 in damage to remnants of pit houses and underground storage containers while widening the trail in 2005.

The Salt Lake Tribune

· May 12, 2014 9:50 pm

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

On Wednesday at 7 p.m., The Salt Lake Tribune's Jennifer Napier-Pearce will moderate an Oxford-style debate at the Salt Lake City Main Library on the resolution: "The state of Utah is best suited to manage public lands within its borders."

Utah House Speaker Rebecca Lockhart and West Jordan Republican Rep. Ken Ivory, president of the American Lands Council, will argue for the motion.

Former BLM director Pat Shea and Dan McCool, political science professor and director of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program at the University of Utah, will argue against the motion.

The event, cosponsored by KCPW 88.3/105.3 FM and the U. of U.'s Hinckley Institute of Politics, is free and open to the public at the library, 210 E. 400 South.

KCPW will broadcast the debate live. It also will be live streamed at sltrib.com.

Those in attendance will vote on which team was most persuasive.