State leaders say they want to open 18.5 million acres of unappropriated federal lands to recreation, conservation, and extractive uses.
The state of Utah filed a federal lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), signaling a continued effort on the part of Western states to push back on federal attempts to tighten conservation measures on public lands.
According to an article in Axios by Kim Bojórquez, the lawsuit applies to the roughly 18.5 million acres of unappropriated public land, not the 19 million acres designated as national parks, monuments, forests, tribal lands, wilderness areas or military properties.
State leaders want to make the land available for recreation and energy production, among other uses. In the past, “Utah sued the Biden administration after it restored the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in 2022, reversing a drastic reduction that occurred under former President Trump.”
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