In a report card assessing the Natural Landscape Conservation System - a collection of more than 200 national monuments, wilderness areas, conservation areas and wild and scenic rivers managed by the BLM - the Washington D.C.-based Wilderness Society handed out a batch of C's and D's. It faulted Congress for not funding the program at the levels it requires, but also nicked the BLM for tilting so many of its budget resources towards energy development.

"These are the places that are the most spectacular, so they should get the most attention," said Jill Ozarski, based in the Wilderness Society's Denver office. "They're also the places that get the most visitors, so they have the greatest demand. Yet, they are getting short shrift when it comes to the budget."

The Natural Landscape Conservation System was adopted in 2000 with a goal of protecting and restoring the BLM's showcase areas. In Utah, those lands include the 1.7 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, three National Historic Trails, three designated Wilderness Areas and 3.2 million acres in wilderness study areas.

The Grand Staircase actually fared better than most system lands in the report, earning one A, two B's and two C's, and getting especially high marks for protecting the monument's wild and primitive character and for visitor management and law enforcement. The recent opening of four new visitor centers in cities surrounding the monument - Kanab, Escalante, Big Water and Cannonville - figured prominently in that regard. But even there, Ozarski says, there are problems.

"They've had $800,000 cut out of their budget in the last two years alone," she said. "They originally set Grand Staircase aside as an outdoor laboratory, but have gone from four to two scientists. They've only got four rangers, which adds up to one ranger per 470,000 acres. And they're just not getting the support they need from Washington when Kane County is doing things like putting up illegal road signs."

While not disputing the budget numbers, BLM officials argue that the agency's multiple-use mandate makes hard choices inevitable.

"The point is, we've got competing priorities," said Utah BLM spokesman Don Banks. "Funding does fluctuate according to the most pressing needs that we have. The energy demands we're facing, especially when you talk about natural gas, a domestic energy source, means they have got to be addressed."

Banks also took issue with specifics regarding the Grand Staircase.

"We've got 40 to 50 different research institutions working in the monument," he said. "There's something going on all the time."

Nevertheless, environmentalists say there is something wrong with the Natural Landscape Conservation System's big picture.

"The Natural Landscape Conservation System was created to safeguard landscapes that are so spectacular in their own way as our national parks," former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said in a statement. "There is clear evidence, however, that we are at risk of moving backwards to adequately protect these special lands."

Congress must support the conservation mission of the Conservation System, he added, "before it's too late."

jbaird@sltrib.com