On October 26, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and his staff held a community meeting at Bryce Valley High School in Tropic. Reyes was invited by Garfield County officials to discuss the State’s response to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which is currently in the middle of a public comment period on its Resource Management Plan (RMP).
The RMP will govern how all of the 1.9 million acres of monument lands, as well as adjacent lands, will be managed. It will also establish how locals and tourists can use those lands.
Among the nearly 200 people who filled the school auditorium, county commissioners were present from Wayne, Piute, Garfield, and Kane counties.
Sean Reyes addressed the crowd by saying he has been frustrated with the federal response to comments from the state and from its citizens. “You have concerns, and they aren’t listening to you,” he said. He added that the BLM wasn’t listening to county officials, BLM field staff, or even to his office.
While most of the world is focused on the Middle East, Reyes said, “Right here in our own backyard there is a war brewing.” He added, “we have to fight back with the law, with facts, reason, and you,” and urged the public to flood the BLM with comments.
Reyes and other state attorneys provided a brief overview of litigation the state has been working on outside just GSENM, including fighting the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Good Neighbor Plan,” which requires states to curb ozone emissions from crossing state lines (in an attempt to fight coal power plants).
The state is also still in the process of fighting for ownership of R.S. 2477 roads in an attempt to preserve access across BLM lands. The state is still seeking depositions from old-time users and other family historical records to gather evidence of usage of these roads prior to 1976.
Garfield County’s Public Works Director David Dodds also presented a series of maps that showed the varying levels of restrictions on several land uses (like grazing) under the RMP’s four “Alternatives.” He noted that while the Travel Management Plan will follow after the RMP, the BLM’s RMP now seeks to remove whole areas of roads from consideration in that future Travel Management Plan. The county sees that as a significant risk that may end up closing roads by default.
During the second half of the meeting, county officials opened the meeting up to receive comments and questions from audience members, which were then answered by the panel of attorneys from the state AG’s office as well as the state’s Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office.
The BLM is accepting public comments until November 9.
Feature image caption: Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes addresses a crowd of nearly 200 people in the Bryce Valley High School auditorium in Tropic on October 26, 2023.
Moab ATV businesses are similarly battling over use of roads in the Gemini Bridges and Labyrinth Canyon area due to implications of a new travel management plan. Read about it here.