Published on February 8th, 2021
For 32 years, environmental advocates have sought to designate as wilderness 9 million acres of unspoiled public land in Utah. Even though the concept of the Red Rock Wilderness Act was first introduced as a 1989 bill by a Democratic representative in the state, it got no traction from Utah’s mostly Republican congressional delegation then, or in the decades since, as other lawmakers have introduced versions of the original bill.
A slice of public land that would be designated wilderness by the Red Rock Wilderness Act.
By Meteor Blades
In the last session of Congress, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and California Rep. Alan Lowenthal proposed establishing wilderness areas in the Great Basin, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Glen Canyon, Moab-La Sal Canyons, and the San Rafael Swell. Given the Biden-Harris administration’s “30 by 30” pledge to conserve 30% of U.S. land and coastal areas by 2030, the Red Rock legislation would appear to have a chance of passage this time around. The 30 by 30 goal is the creation of The Campaign for Nature, a partnership of the Wyss Campaign for Nature, the National Geographic Society, and a coalition of more than 100 conservation organizations.