Utah Gov. Spencer Cox responded to the newly released management plan for Bears Ears National Monument this week, expressing disappointment that the federal government didn’t collaborate more with the state and local counties.

The plan was released on Friday, identifying a preferred land management approach that took input from five tribal nations, the Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Zuni Tribe, Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation. It’s the first management plan of its kind, seeking to “emphasize Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and a holistic approach to stewardship of this sacred landscape.”

“We are disappointed with the lack of coordination with the state and county resource management plans,” Cox said in a statement. “We hope the BLM and Forest Service will take our consistency review seriously and make meaningful changes.”

A consistency review is essentially the governor’s response to the decision and a chance to identify any inconsistencies with current state and county plans, allowed under the Bureau of Land Management’s public involvement process. It will likely be filed in the summer, a spokesperson for the governor said.

Redge Johnson, director of the Utah Public Land Policy Coordinating Office, said he was still reviewing the plan. Johnson had previously spoken out against the plan during a legislative committee meeting in February, where he called the preferred ​​alternative “very problematic.”

On Wednesday, he said some of those critiques remain after initially reviewing the draft.

“We still have concerns about access to recreational opportunities, science-based vegetation management, and existing permitted uses within the monument boundaries,” Johnson said in a statement. “Within the next few weeks, we will have a better understanding of what this plan means to Utah and will respond accordingly.”

In early February, the state withdrew from a proposed land exchange with the federal government — Utah was slated to gain about 167,000 acres of land under federal management and in return, the BLM would have acquired about 162,500 acres managed by the Utah School and Institutional Lands Trust Administration, or SITLA, which manages some state land to raise funds for Utah public schools.

Most of that land held by SITLA is currently within the Bears Ears boundary.

The state’s reasoning for pulling out of the plan was the BLM’s land management plan, which at the time was not public — still, Utah officials were able to see the plan, which they called overly restrictive and harmful to local industry.

“The federal government has signaled that it once again plans to adopt a restrictive land management plan that will harm recreational access, grazing, and other traditional public uses of these lands,” read a Feb. 6 statement from Cox and legislative leaders.

Since the governor’s consistency review is still in process, specifics of his opposition to the plan are unclear. According to the BLM’s preferred alternative listed in the nearly 700-page draft management plan, grazing would still be allowed in the majority of the monument — about 170,000 of Bears Ears’ 1.36 million acres would be off limits. Dispersed camping would still be allowed in most of the monument with some restrictions on sites a quarter mile from water.

The preferred alternative would render about 570,000 acres closed to motorized use — that’s about 133,896 acres more than what’s currently labeled closed to off-highway vehicles, or OHVs.

The preferred alternative, called alternative E, is one of six possible management plans the BLM could select after a 90-day public comment period that began last Friday. Based on the public comments, the BLM could select a different plan, or choose a mix of the alternatives.

Bears Ears National Monument was designated by former President Barack Obama in the waning days of his tenure, then reduced in size by former President Donald Trump only to be restored by current President Joe Biden.

Utah is currently challenging the monument’s legitimacy in court, along with Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, in a lawsuit that could make it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Utah News Dispatch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news source covering government, policy and the issues most impacting the lives of Utahns.

Newsletter