Wilds bill may please many

WASHINGTON — A Washington County lands bill that has been revised to include more wilderness areas may garner support from environmental groups.

The once controversial bill has been revived, with the changes, by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. The Washington County Growth & Conservation Act of 2008, as it is called, would allow a little more than 9,000 acres of non-environmentally sensitive public land to be sold under local guidelines developed through a smart growth initiative called Vision Dixie, Bennett said.

This is a decrease from the 24,300 acres proposed in the 2006 version of the bill, but "that number was always a cap and not a goal," Bennett said. That bill received committee hearings but never was voted on in either the House or Senate.

"After five years at the table with all interested stakeholders, Congressman Matheson and I have produced a bill that successfully strikes a balance between conservation and growth in Washington County," Bennett said in a statement. "Parties on all sides of this debate have repeatedly told me it would be impossible to broker a deal on this emotional issue which, for decades, has caused people to dig in their heels. The persistence we've applied now appears to be paying off as our bill has gained extremely diverse support and a very good chance of passing."

Bennett said he hopes to have a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the bill before the end of the month. There is still plenty of time to get the bill through this year.

"So many previous antagonists are now on board," Bennett said. "I found people on all sides were getting sick of the controversy."

The highlights of the bill include:

• 264,394 acres of land would be added to the National Wilderness Preservation System, increasing the amount of wilderness acreage in the county from 3.5 percent to 20.5 percent.

• The creation of two National Conservation Areas to provide 140,000 acres for the protected desert tortoise, as well as recreational uses.

• 123,000 more acres of permanently protected land than was included in the previous bill.

• 9,000 acres of public land would be sold to private developers, with all of the money either going to the county or being used locally by the Bureau of Land Management.