Signage welcomes visitors to Bureau of Land Management land near Cedar City on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025.
Like any person after a long day of work, I like to sit on my couch and scroll social media. Normally this is a non-confrontational experience full of cooking tutorials, updates from friends, and memes. But recently as I was scrolling my Instagram feed, I was stopped in my tracks by a post from Gov. Spencer Cox. In this post, he insinuates that Utah’s campaign for control of national public lands is to “keep public lands in public hands” accompanied by a video highlighting Utah’s beautiful landscapes. This could not be further from the truth when examining the state’s track record.
It’s not surprising that a post about who should steward our precious public lands has gotten my attention. As the chapter director for the Utah Sierra Club, I spend my time working to preserve Utah’s natural beauty and our clean air and water. Each and every day, I hear from Utahns about why national public lands are important to them.
Currently, most public lands in Utah are managed by the federal government on behalf of us all. The Bureau of Land Management, in particular, oversees nearly 23 million acres in the state, including world renowned red rock canyon country, vast areas of the sagebrush sea, high mountain peaks, and spectacular rivers. These places contain significant cultural landscapes and historic sites, outstanding outdoor recreation opportunities, important wildlife habitat, and critical water resources. We are incredibly fortunate that our public lands, waters, and wildlife are public assets. They are not a luxury available only to the few, but are vital to our individual and collective well-being. By being managed in the public trust, these lands include some of the last great vast, wild spaces left in this country, and their benefits to our health, our history and our heritage cannot be overlooked.
So what’s the problem? The Utah state government wants to take over public lands currently managed by the federal government, claiming this will help Utah citizens. Gov. Cox has pushed even harder for state control of these public lands through the “Stand for our Land” Campaign. Unless you’re an oil tycoon or gas mogul, state command of our public lands will not help you. Utah government management of public lands makes it easier to sell or lease them for oil and mineral extraction, and if the state sells or leases those lands to extractive industries, it is likely that those companies will block public access altogether.
The truth is the Utah state government sees dollar signs: Utah has already sold off more than 50% of its state trust land — over 4.1 million acres — restricting public access including for recreation. Control of public lands is not about protecting them, it’s about selling them to the highest bidder. The state will not steward our lands with conservation in mind, and that’s why this land grab should be scary to all of us.
When I moved to Utah six years ago I shared with a coworker that I’m from Riverside, California. She joked and said “You must not like good air quality, you’ve gone from one bad air city to another.” Now, of course, I do, but unfortunately, I’m all too familiar with the pollution that will come with allowing the state to develop on public lands. If you know anything about Riverside, you know it has some of the worst air quality in the country. And my family felt the effects deeply. While growing up, I frequently was in the hospital with my brothers who suffered from asthma.
Protecting natural, open spaces like national public lands is crucial to maintaining clean air and clean water for our communities–not to mention for local recreation economies. Some studies estimate that every dollar spent on creating and maintaining park trails can save almost three dollars in health care costs alone.
I urge you to pay attention to this latest move by our state government. If you, like me, care about access to natural spaces for you, your kids, your grandkids, and their kids, then you should be ready to make your voice heard. I invite you to join me in sharing your love for public lands and waters by contacting our state leaders to urge them to stop attacking the places so many of us cherish.