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H.C.R. 6

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UTAH WILDERNESS DESIGNATION RESOLUTION

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1997 GENERAL SESSION

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STATE OF UTAH

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Sponsor: Bradley T. Johnson

5    A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE LEGISLATURE AND THE GOVERNOR URGING
6    THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TO ABIDE BY THE
7    RESULTS OF THE FIRST INVENTORY OF UTAH LANDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF
8    WILDERNESS DESIGNATION.
9    Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
10        WHEREAS it has been over two years since the Bureau of Land Management issued its
11    final environmental impact statement and recommended designating approximately 1.9 million
12    acres of land in Utah as Wilderness;
13        WHEREAS the process used by the Bureau of Land Management to arrive at the
14    recommendation of 1.9 million acres involved approximately 13 years, 75 formal hearings, 16,000
15    comments from concerned individuals and groups, 2,700 man-months of work and an estimated
16    10 million dollars;
17        WHEREAS counties in Utah have done studies of proposed wilderness areas and have
18    come up with comparable findings to the first Bureau of Land Management inventory;
19        WHEREAS the United States Department of the Interior has decided to invalidate this first
20    exacting and comprehensive inventory and proceed with a second inventory that will take an
21    estimated six months and include no public input;
22        WHEREAS though the courts have halted this action for the moment, the Secretary of the
23    Interior is still adamant in his position;
24        WHEREAS this second inventory would be conducted by hand-picked employees, with
25    no apparent experience with the Utah wilderness issue;
26        WHEREAS the attempt to reinventory proposed wilderness lands would clearly violate the
27    spirit of the 1964 Wilderness Act;


1        WHEREAS this would be an unnecessary waste of time, effort, and taxpayer dollars;
2        WHEREAS the state of Utah is willing to cooperate with the first Bureau of Land
3    Management inventory of proposed wilderness areas;
4        WHEREAS the Bureau of Land Management has designated land in Utah as Wilderness
5    Study Areas, which are treated as wilderness areas, even though more than one million acres do
6    not qualify as wilderness h AS DEFINED IN THE 1964 WILDERNESS ACT h ;
7        WHEREAS designating lands as wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas would harm
8    communities by permanently eliminating any further development; and
9        WHEREAS Utah's congressional delegation has worked long and hard to fairly resolve
10    this issue:
11        NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
12    Governor concurring therein, call upon the Department of the Interior to abide by the results of the
13    first inventory of Utah lands for the purpose of wilderness designation as was done in other
14    western states.
15        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor call upon congress
16    to end the wilderness issue through passage of final legislation as quickly as possible.
17        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any future changes in the designation of federal lands
18    within the state of Utah include: 1) exact adherence by federal authorities to the spirit and letter
19    of existing federal laws including the 1964 Wilderness Act, the Federal Land Policy and
20    Management Act (FLPMA), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); and 2) public
21    comment and input, especially from local areas directly affected by redesignation.
22        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor urge Utah's
23    congressional delegation to continue its work to resolve the issue and express their gratitude and
24    appreciation for its previous exemplary efforts.
25        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to the Speaker of the
26    United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and to the
27    members of Utah's congressional delegation.

lilac-February 21, 1997

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Legislative Review Note
    as of 12-12-96 2:13 PM


A limited legal review of this bill raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel


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