Letter: Biden must fundamentally reform BLMâs dominant management culture
Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune
Wild horses roam around with cattle on BLM land northwest of Cedar City, Wednesday, April 23, 2014
By Richard Spotts | The Public Forum
  | Feb. 7, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
President Biden signed an executive order with the commendable goal of protecting 30 percent of our nationâs lands and waters by 2030. If achieved, this would be a significant response to the mounting climate and extinction crises.
The largest chunks of federal lands are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), particularly here in the West. BLM could therefore play a key role in whether this protection goal is met. Unfortunately, BLM cannot currently fulfill this role because it has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot protect its lands that already have protective legal designations.
A new highway project outside of St. George will involve a land swap to protect popular biking and climbing areas, but may impact the habitat for the desert tortoise population, an endangered species.
On Jan. 14, Washington County officials announced that the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had issued a right of way to build the proposed Northern Corridor Highway through the southern tip of the existing Red Cliffs Reserve National Conservation Area. The controversial deal includes a separate 6,813 acres of land southwest of St. George to be added to the reserve. Within this separate island of land lies some of the most popular climbing and mountain biking in southwest Utah.
ST. GEORGE An area in Washington County known for its higher density of the threatened Mojave Desert tortoises is expanding.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources announced Tuesday that about 23 acres of land were donated toward the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. In addition to the donation, the agency reports that another 30 acres were acquired through an Endangered Species Mitigation Fund, giving the reserve an additional 53 acres.
The new land additions were acquired through the help of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Washington County, and The Nature Conservancy a national land conservation nonprofit. The private property acquired was one of the largest remaining private properties within the reserve, according to DWR biologist Ann McLuckie.
The Energy 202: Trump administration jams in environmental rollbacks in final days Dino Grandoni
with Alexandra Ellerbeck Even as they re packing their bags, President Trump s team is jamming in more rollbacks to energy and environmental restrictions.
As Juliet Eilperin and I report, the slew of new rules several of which will help the fossil fuel, logging and mining industries that have benefited from past Trump administration action sets up a clash with the incoming president. President-elect Joe Biden and his aides may spend months unwinding these policies as they gear up to cut greenhouse gas emissions unless congressional Democrats or federal judges step in to overturn them more quickly. Biden becomes president Wednesday.