Every legislative session seems to develop a theme and for 2012 it may be the control of federal lands in Utah, which amount to 65 percent of the land mass.
While the issues are raising public awareness during this legislative session, neither the debate nor the issues are new and have been going on since statehood.
To illustrate, the Utah Legislature in 1915, just 20 years after statehood, sent a resolution to Congress which stated in part: "...the people of Utah view with alarm and apprehension the national tendency toward the curtailment of the former liberal policies in handling the public domain and disposing of the natural resources..."
