America's Red Rock Wilderness Act

Summary#

This bill would designate many named areas of the red rock canyons and nearby deserts in Utah as wilderness and add them to the National Wilderness Preservation System. The bill lists each new wilderness area by name and gives approximate acreage. The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), would manage the areas under the Wilderness Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The Secretary must file maps and legal descriptions with Congress and make them available to the public.

The bill also:

• offers land exchanges if State school trust land is inside a designated wilderness area;
• reserves a quantity of federal water for each wilderness area with a priority date equal to the date of enactment and directs the United States to protect those reserved water rights;
• allows livestock grazing that is authorized on the date of enactment to continue under reasonable regulations;
• preserves tribal rights and existing valid rights;
• withdraws the designated Federal land from entry, mining location and patent, and mineral and geothermal leasing, subject to valid existing rights; and
• provides that land the Federal Government later acquires within the boundaries becomes part of the wilderness areas.

What it means for you#

If the bill becomes law, the listed places would receive formal wilderness designation and be managed to preserve wilderness character under the Wilderness Act and FLPMA. The BLM would publish maps and descriptions for public review. Mining claims and new mineral or geothermal leases would be blocked on the affected Federal lands, subject to valid existing rights. State school trust lands inside new wilderness areas may be exchanged for other Federal lands of roughly equal value. Grazing that already exists can continue, subject to regulation. The bill states that tribal rights and other valid rights are not affected.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Proponents' View#

The bill says the designations would protect scenic, cultural, and ecological values of the red rock canyons; increase landscape connectivity; provide refuges that help address climate impacts; conserve places important to Indigenous cultures; and protect areas for recreation and traditional uses now and for future generations.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.