In Utah, the BLM Offers a First-of-its-Kind Proposal for Balancing Recreation and Development
San Rafael Swell, Utah. Photo credit: Patrick Henry. Ute land.
After nearly leasing off Slickrock and Sand Flats campground to oil and gas developers last year, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is taking a new approach as it plans for how to manage the San Rafael Swell, home to incredible camping, hiking, and mountain biking.
As you might remember, last spring, the BLM announced that it was planning to lease off the iconic Slickrock trail near Moab, Utah. Outdoor Alliance and other recreation partners moved quickly and the outdoor community sent tens of thousands of letters to the Utah BLM, which quickly reversed course (promising it had heard the recreation community “loud and clear”).
Map 1, click to enlarge
While we were glad to save Slickrock, there was more to the story than the BLM leasing off this one area. The bigger issue is that even on lands with low potential for development, recreation and other assets are not being considered when BLM offers up land for lease. Recently, the BLM shared that it would offer several more parcels for lease in Utah, near recreation-rich areas, including the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area and the McCoy Flats Trail System (see map 1).
While we’re disappointed to see these areas potentially up for lease, the BLM is also considering a first-of-its-kind “recreational resources preservation alternative.”
Outdoor Alliance has been advocating for recreation alternatives since we started our oil and gas monitoring program. And it’s a big success that the BLM has listened. The comment period also offers an extraordinary opportunity for the outdoor recreation community to protect recreation opportunities and access by advocating for this alternative, which could help set an important precedent. The BLM is accepting your comments until December 11.
As part of its process to lease lands, the BLM has to prepare an environmental assessment report for the proposed lease sale parcels to determine whether or not the lease sale has the potential to cause significant environmental impacts. The environmental assessment describes the environmental effects of the proposed action and a range of alternatives. The biggest deal in this assessment is that the BLM is offering a “Recreational Resources Preservation Alternative.” The BLM describes this as:
“This Alternative was developed to preserve, to the extent practical, the recreational opportunities that could be impacted by development of the parcels. Only parcel 7072, which has an unplugged well on it would be offered in the lease sale, with notification to the potential lessees that liability to plug the well would be conferred upon issuing the lease.”
While we’re stoked about the recreation alternative, the whole story is a bit more complicated. The BLM is offering six parcels (6,645 acres) for lease in the sale. Five of the six parcels are directly adjacent to recreation-rich areas, including the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area and the McCoy Flats Trail System.
Map 2, click to enlarge.
Complicating things further, this region is also in the midst of another planning process. Back in 2019, Congress passed the John Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, recognizing the exceptional recreation opportunities in the San Rafael Swell and McCoy Flats Trail System and designating them as Recreation Areas. The Dingell Act requires the BLM to prepare a management plan for the long-term protection and management of these Recreation Areas. The BLM opened a public comment period for the management of both the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area and McCoy Flats Trail System on October 28, just five days before it released the oil and gas lease sale environmental assessment report. Given that the BLM is trying to put together a management plan for the area, it should not be offering up new leases for oil and gas developers until it has finalized its resource management plans for the area.
Additionally, while public lands are home to many uses, including development, this region is not suitable for oil and gas development. One parcel that the BLM is considering (called parcel 1121, within the San Rafael Swell Special Recreation Management Area) is on land with low oil and gas potential, according to an analysis by Trout Unlimited. We’ve written before here and here on why speculative leasing is problematic, and once leased, low potential lands are generally not managed for other uses like recreation or conservation, regardless of development status.
You can help – protect the San Rafael Swell and give the BLM some kudos for prioritizing recreation on public lands. You can submit your comment online directly with the Utah BLM or through the tool below, sharing your support for Alternative B, the Recreational Resources Preservation Alternative. You can read our comment to the BLM, submitted jointly with Public Lands Solutions, here.