KSL TV
SALT LAKE CITY For the third time in five years, a U.S. Department of Interior secretary is visiting Utah amid a debate over two controversial national monument designations that will likely never fully be resolved.
In a release sent late Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Interior announced that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland received briefings from federal employees, visited the Bears Ears Education Center in Bluff, San Juan County, met with tribal leaders and was meeting with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and members of Utah s congressional delegation.
On Thursday, she will be joined by tribal leaders in more tours of the Bears Ears region and will meet with stakeholders in San Juan County who include local elected officials, ranchers, conservation organizations, mining companies, paleontologists and archaeologists.
Utah and Western local officials call for the swift restoration of Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monuments
Mountain Pact network of local elected officials release statements
Author:
News Release
The Mountain Pact
With Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland visiting Utah this week as part of the Biden administration’s review of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments as outlined in the executive order President Biden signed on his first day in office, The Mountain Pact network of local elected officials released the following statements:
Anna Peterson, Executive Director of The Mountain Pact said, “Over 140 local elected officials from across the West, including Utah mayors, council members, and county commissioners support the swift restoration of protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. It s time for real collaborative management to begin with Tribes at Bears Ears and for the restoration of protection
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Moab City Attorney Laurie Simonson summarized steps the city has already taken toward mitigating street noise at a city council workshop on March 9: It has implemented a 15 mile-per-hour speed limit for off-highway vehicles like UTVs and ATVs on city streets, placed a moratorium on licenses for new UTV-related businesses, and placed a moratorium on on special event permits for ATV events.
After the defeat of a proposed state law that would have allowed Moab to place a nighttime curfew on OHVs, the council discussed revising the cityâs existing noise ordinance and approaches to enforcement and touched on coordinating on noise issues with other authorities like Grand County and the Bureau of Land Management.
Grand County residents have been eagerly watching the progress at the state capitol of Senate Bill 168, which would have allowed resort communities in Utah to impose a curfew on OHV use on municipal streets between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Many residents hoped the bill would give Moab City a tool to reduce excessive noise from the popular vehicles; others see UTVs as being unfairly targeted by the proposed legislation, and urge officials to instead enforce existing regulations that apply to all vehicles to address ongoing noise complaints. The bill, which was introduced by Sen. Mike McKell (R-District 7), failed in the Senate in a 14-15 vote on Feb. 24.