There is a bill before Congress that would have far-reaching impacts for my backyard in Utah and could also set a precedent for where you live, especially if you – like me – love the public lands that make the West unique.
The legislation is called the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act, sponsored by Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, a Democrat, and Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, a Republican. But while its name suggests an enlightened melding of smart growth and conservation, the bill sells off federal land in southwest Utah on the doorstep of Zion National Park and gives the proceeds to local water developers.
A portion of the earnings from the land sale of up to 25,000 acres would be used to subsidize a water pipeline from Lake Powell, 120 miles away, to the driest county in the second-driest state in the country. This is public land being sold to fund water projects for a community that already has the highest per capita water consumption rate among desert cities in the United States. In addition, this water will come from the Colorado River, whose bounty has been over-allocated for some 80 years.
The bill establishes hundreds of miles of corridors for utility lines, highways, pipelines and dam sites across currently undeveloped public lands. But while the bill paves the way for infrastructure, it ignores two-thirds of Utah’s iconic wilderness landscapes from that region – land that desperately deserves protection.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the bill is the one that could hit your favorite canyon, forest or mountain: It is the dangerous precedent of selling off federal land owned by all Americans to benefit strictly local interests.
The Washington County Growth and Conservation Act would direct 8 percent of the estimated millions of dollars in proceeds from public-land sales into the pockets of a local water development group, 2 percent to the county for administrative costs, and 5 percent to the state of Utah. The remaining 85 percent of the profits would pay for a variety of local projects within Washington County, including the establishment of off-road vehicle trails. It is left to the discretion of the Bush administration as to how the 85 percent will be allocated, as long as the money is spent locally.
This legislation affects me both personally and professionally. My life, as well as countless others in this spectacular state, is vastly enriched by my access to public lands. I work at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains and my lunch breaks include running or skiing on wilderness trails minutes from my office door. I also own a business that sells climbing and skiing gear and am therefore involved in the outdoor recreation industry that generates $267 billion nationwide. This industry, which is largely dependent upon the long-term protection of public land, has a rich heritage of giving back significant profits to fund public land enhancements and open space conservation. I don’t want to see our incremental progress stripped away by the passage of this wrongheaded bill.
The long-term effects of this legislation are profound. When these lands are sold, the money spent, and continuing management needs or new projects come up, do we sell more land to pay the costs? Once we start shedding these beautiful public lands, where do we stop?
For those of us who use public lands to camp, fish, hike, climb, picnic, hunt or for our businesses, this bill offers a vision of a diminished American West with “no trespassing” signs and freedom lost. If this trend spreads, I can imagine public-land sales beyond the West, for example, in the Boundary Waters Area in Minnesota or national forests in Virginia.
There is no justification for selling the lands that were handed down to us just for the short-term financial gain of special interests. We are now at a point where many communities throughout the West are voting to tax themselves to acquire diminishing open space and reduce sprawl. That is the future we want to head toward. This legislation, which will be heard in the U.S. House Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health on Thursday, points us in the opposite direction.
Peter Metcalf is president and co-founder of Black Diamond Equipment in Salt Lake City, and serves on the board of the Outdoor Industry Association. He wrote this for Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org) in Paonia.
