A coalition of environmental groups in Utah has been formed to carry out the Biden administration’s goal of protecting 30 percent of the state’s lands and waters by 2030.
The Utah 30×30 coalition’s goals are similar to those outlined in the “America the Beautiful” initiative, calling for preservation, habitat connectivity, equitable access to nature, the sovereignty of Tribal Nations and science-based collaborative work to restore habitats.
Deeda Seed, public lands senior campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, said at a Zoom news conference, though public lands encompass more than 30 percent of the state, they do not meet the highest standards of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
“Essentially, wilderness areas are the gold standard for protection,” Seed said. “They’re something called GAP 1,…and then GAP 2…is almost as much protection as a wilderness area, but not quite. What we found from the analysis is that about 12-13 percent of Utah falls into those top two categories, so we’re working to get that other 17 percent protected by 2030.”
USGS classifies GAP 1 and 2 areas as those “having permanent protection from conversion of natural land cover and a mandated management plan in operation,” with GAP 1 lands maintaining a natural state without disturbance and GAP 2 lands suppressing natural disturbances, such as wildfires or insect infestations.
Seed said most of Utah’s public lands are GAP 3, as they are open to multiple uses.
The coalition of 12 environmental organizations surveyed Utahns to see what they want protected in the state. Respondents preferred all types of protections, especially wildlife and wilderness areas, over state or national park designations. Areas to protect included the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, along with Utah’s river and watershed areas. Other areas chosen were Utah’s national forests, red rock wildlands, Wasatch Range’s mountains and foothills, and the West Desert.
Mary O’Brien, executive director of Project Eleven Hundred, said the Legislature’s effort to address water issues and the Great Salt Lake in the upcoming 45-day session is the reaction members of the coalition hope to see with other goals of Utah 30×30.
“The Great Salt Lake ecosystem might serve as a poster child of the myriad ways we need to think about changing how we treat the lands of the state,” O’Brien said.
Further helping meet the 30×30 goal, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA-47) sponsored America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, designating 8 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land as wilderness. The bill would protect Utah landscapes such as Cedar Mesa, Factory Butte, the Kaiparowits Plateau and the Greater Canyonlands area. The Navajo Nation Council passed a resolution supporting America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, stating, “Protecting our land is important to the Navajo people, and we support this wilderness designation.”
A report by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance shows America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act accounts for 1.5 percent of land that needs to be conserved to reach the goal of protecting 30 percent of land in the U.S. by 2030.
Seed stated the next step is to put together a series of proposals for state and Biden administration officials on how public land in Utah can be protected. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
