SALT LAKE CITY -- Federal officials are beginning to decide how to manage more than 100,000 acres in southwestern Utah designated by Congress last year as important for conserving plants and animals, including the threatened Mojave desert tortoise.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Monday it's developing plans for the 63,500-acre Beaver Dam Wash and the 45,000-acre Red Cliffs area.
Both are newly created national conservation areas, where the top priority is preserving natural and cultural resources.
That will be a guiding principle over the next three years or so as the BLM decides how best to manage the two areas, said Keith Rigtrup, a planner at the agency's office in St. George.
One of the key issues will be how people use the land, particularly where they're allowed and what kind of motorized recreation will be permitted. Motorized vehicles are currently restricted to designated roads.
For now, the agency is open to a wide range of ideas but reluctant to talk about what may end up being proposed.
"What the end picture is going to look like we don't know at this point," Rigtrup said.
Both areas were designated as part of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009. While both provide habitat for the Mojave tortoise -- federally protected since 1980 -- the areas are also home to species of birds, plants and reptiles that are also protected or are considered sensitive.
Figuring out a way to accommodate those species while still providing some level of public access will be the balancing act for developing the resource management plans, said Dawna Ferris-Rowley, assistant field manager for BLM in St. George.
That will prove especially important at Red Cliffs north of St. George, an area increasingly sought out by southwestern Utah's growing population for hiking, biking and other recreation along some 130 miles of trails. The area gets about 100,000 visits a year, according to agency figures.
"These are the backyards of so many people in this community," she said.
Farther south, Beaver Dam Wash is tucked in the far southwestern corner of Washington County along the borders of Arizona and Nevada. It gets about 20,000 visits a year, often from hikers, rock climbers and horseback riders.
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