The Utah Wilderness Coalition, composed of 35 local and national environmental groups, would like to see no less than 5.7 million acres of BLM land designated as wilderness. That proposal has emerged in a bill sponsored by New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D, who took over the bill for former Utah Rep. Wayne Owens. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the BLM inventoried its 22 million acres of land in Utah and concluded that only 2.4 million acres were worthy of Wilderness Study Area status, which guarantees their protection until Congress designates permanent wilderness. Environmentalists filed an appeal, saying at least 925,000 acres were wrongly deleted from consideration. The BLM added about 800,000 acres to the WSAs for a total of 3.2 million, but of these, the agency recommended that Congress designate only about 2 million for wilderness.
Environmentalists say the agency proposal is woefully inadequate.
For example, in the magnificent San Rafael region, which was once considered for a national park, the BLM has proposed 243,000 acres for wilderness. The wilderness coalition urges 753,000. In Desolation Canyon and Book Cliffs, one of the largest roadless areas in the lower 48, the agency has proposed 328,000 acres. The coalition proposes 719,000 acres. Not all environmental groups support the coalition's 5.7 million-acre proposal, a fact that could undermine environmentalists' cause in this year's frenzied debate.