The Utah Wilderness Coalition appreciates that the Washington County Growth and
Conservation Act is an improvement over last year’s version. With Washington
County’s burgeoning population putting tremendous pressures on the area’s resources,
this bill would designate as wilderness many of the region’s most wild and diverse areas.
The bill would also designate Beaver Dam Wash as a national conservation area. We
have concerns about inappropriate off road vehicle use there, but we have been assured
that Senator Bennett’s intention is to make sure these areas are effectively protected from
such use, and that he will continue to work with us and his colleagues to ensure that this
is the case.
While we are still assessing the language of the bill in its entirety, we do have serious
concerns about several of the bill’s other provisions, particularly those regarding land
disposal and distribution of revenues. Because we believe that there is potential to
deliver significant and reasonable conservation gains in this bill, it is our intention to
work with the Congress in a constructive manner in hopes of addressing our concerns and
achieving important conservation goals. We thank Senator Bennett and Rep. Matheson
for their efforts to get us to this point.
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