Ads taking aim at Leavitt

Wilderness advocates say Gov. Mike Leavitt isn't listening to them so now they're spending more than $100,000 to take their case to the public.

Starting today, 30-second television and radio spots will urge listeners to ask Leavitt to back off on a settlement made with Interior Secretary Gale Norton that does away with wilderness protections on nearly 6 million acres of federal land.

"If you listen closely, nature speaks to you," the voice on the television screen says. "Unfortunately, she's losing her voice. As a result of Gov. Leavitt's secret deal with the Department of Interior, over 6 million acres of pristine wilderness are now left to the mercy of development and abuse," a script of the spot says.

"Give the land a voice. Please ask Gov. Leavitt to do the right thing and help us save Utah's wilderness."

It's the first time the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has targeted Leavitt in a multimedia campaign.

"What the governor has done is take an extraordinary action and caused an extraordinary amount of damage," SUWA attorney Scott Groene said.

Eric Bute of Motive Films in Salt Lake City developed the ads, which will run on cable television and a variety of radio stations. SUWA also plans to reach Utahns through the mail and newspapers.

"We're targeting folks we think are receptive to the message but may not be aware of the deal," Groene said.

It's not certain exactly how much the campaign will end up costing, but Groene said it's "significant. In the six-figure range."

Leavitt isn't surprised by the attack, his spokeswoman Natalie Gochnour said.

"These types of attacks are what extremists do," she said. "The governor would very much like to designate more wilderness in the state. There's lots of wilderness to make down the middle but zero at the extremes."

At issue is an April agreement between Leavitt and Norton to end a 6-year-old lawsuit filed by the state against then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who had identified more potential wilderness than the 3.2 million acres identified in the original Bureau of Land Management inventory.

The media campaign is timely.

In two weeks, Outdoor Retailer will host its semiannual trade show here. And when it does, the Outdoor Industry Association, the exclusive endorser behind the biggest retail shows, will decide whether to stay in Utah.

Leavitt's deal angered organizers of the show because of the anti-wilderness message. OIA threatened to pull out of Utah, leaving an annual $24 million hole in the economy.

That caught Leavitt's attention. He met with representatives to work out differences. In the end, retailers decided to take a "wait and see" attitude and let their membership decide in August.

But SUWA insists its campaign is unrelated to that.

"This is beyond a simple political statement," Groene said. "The action threatens millions of acres."

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E-mail: donna@desnews.com