But much of that work has already been done by UEC, a painstaking effort that took four years. And it involved the collaboration from other groups like SUWA and Red Rock Forests.

"We did not develop our proposal in a vacuum, and to claim otherwise is simply dishonest," said Kevin Mueller, UEC's roadless area coordinator.

Peterson knows that. After all, he helped UEC with its inventory as a field worker. In doing so, he admits UEC's wilderness proposal is one of the most comprehensive in the country. "I don't think there has been anything like that anywhere except in New Mexico," he said.

So why do another survey?

"(UEC's) wilderness proposal is fairly conservative," Peterson said.

UEC says it's no more conservative than the Utah Wilderness bill that would designate roughly 40 percent of the land managed by the BLM in Utah as wilderness. UEC's proposal calls for the same percentage — 40 percent of the Forest Service land in Utah.

UFN, however, is recommending much more wilderness in the Dixie and Fishlake forests.

But UEC says that won't fly because it doesn't follow the law.

"Our approach differs in that we have always acknowledged that not all lands that technically qualify as 'roadless' are manageable or available for designation under the Wilderness Act," Mueller said. "We honestly took into consideration valid existing rights and management conflicts when balancing the need to protect roadless areas and native forests with wilderness designation."

In developing the wilderness proposal, UEC followed National Forest Service standards. It included a survey of 5.2 million acres of roadless lands in Utah — almost two-thirds of the national forest land in the state. UEC then reviewed timber sales and water rights and took extensive photographs to support its proposal to preserve 3.3 million acres of wilderness lands.

UEC, however, recognized that not all Forest Service roadless areas qualify as wilderness-quality lands because of popular uses such as snowmobiling and off-road vehicles.

"We firmly believe UEC's approach to wilderness on Forest Service lands in Utah is sound and we encourage these groups to join our coalition and support a finely crafted bill that can actually pass Congress," added Tidwell.

Peterson said UFN will draft a plan that recognizes valid existing land-use rights under federal law. But it won't include numbers of how many acres of wilderness should be set aside. "We are trying to keep the debate away from numbers," he said. "Valid existing rights have to be considered under wilderness laws. We are not attempting to rewrite the Wilderness Act."

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E-mail: donna@desnews.com