Utah BLM emits another charmer

The Salt Lake Tribune recently publshed this editorial regarding the Richfield BLM's newly proposed management plan:

"No management plan: BLM makes gift of land to off-roaders, drillers"

 "It's an off-roader's dream: a federal management plan making nearly 2 million acres of public land a playground for off-highway vehicles.
   "The Bureau of Land Management's proposal for the BLM lands in six Utah counties is also a gift tied with a big red ribbon and handed to oil and gas developers.
    "But it can hardly be called "management," especially the type of multiple-use management and land conservation the BLM is charged to provide for the Western lands owned by all Americans. By opening up 90 percent of the area to OHV use and 80 percent to drilling, the plan effectively excludes quiet recreation - mountain biking, hiking and backpacking - and sacrifices scenic vistas, wildlife habitat, and cultural treasures including archaeological ruins, relics and rock art."

Read the rest of the editorial here.

Rather than throw down my own analysis right now, I'll share some photos I took a couple of years ago in one of the more controversial bits of the region, Factory Butte.

A couple of years ago the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, working with a local farmer that was having problems with off-road vehicles on his property or polluting his irrigation water, got the BLM to set limits on cross-country driving at Factory Butte. The off-roading play area was limited to 2,600 acres, with a couple hundred miles of nearby dirt roads. Off-roading advocacy groups had a massive fit of hysterics over this, accusing conservationists of trying to kill the local economy, close all public land to motor vehicles, etc. (The "environmentalists want to close all public lands" accusation is pretty easy to refute. "Killing the local economy" is pretty easily addressed by pointing out that by far the primary tourism draw to the area is Capitol Reef National Park, though some people stop in Hanksville to get milkshakes on the way to Glen Canyon). 

The  new plan removes this protection of Factory Butte by vastly expanding the off-roading play area there. It also designates more than 3,200 miles of roads in the field office region. 

The primary argument in favor of this plan seems to be that Factory Butte is barren desert, not good for anything but being denuded by motor sports. Well, I'll let my readers be the judge. These photos are all of the region that will be the designated motor sport sacrifice area, except for one shot of a nearby farm (and I presume the vertical bits of the mesa are off-limits, although you never know). 

Here we go, photos of the Factory Butte area: