"The BLM regulations apply to federal lands but not to private or trust lands," Garrison said.

The BLM last Friday held an oil- and gas-lease sale in which more than half of the parcels were pulled from the auction block. The BLM temporarily deferred thousands of acres from the sale because of complaints that the parcels were too close to sensitive scenic and wilderness areas in Utah's famed red-rock country.

Mitchell said SITLA discloses to potential lease-holders that a particular parcel of trust land may be close to federally protected public lands. SITLA land is sometimes included in an overlay of an area designated as wilderness, and Mitchell said oil and gas wells already are located in some of those areas.

The wilderness study areas surrounding a SITLA parcel "may make it more or less interesting to a potential lessee," Mitchell said. "It's certainly relevant. It has no bearing on our decision to offer them."

SITLA ran into problems in recent years when proposals to sell land near Tabby Mountain and the Little Hole fishing hotspot on the Green River prompted public outcry. SITLA decided not to sell the Tabby Mountain land and considered forming an advisory committee to help the agency make decisions about "sensitive" areas. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources purchased the 356 acres near Little Hole for over $1.6 million, staving off fears the land would be developed into a resort. The committee, however, was never formed.

Mitchell said his agency has no "legal authority" to consider withholding parcels from its sales if state trust officials know the land is close to or abuts wilderness areas. Mitchell said SITLA is engaged in ongoing efforts to trade or sell land to the federal government if there is a problem with the parcels being too close to sensitive areas.

But SITLA's bread and butter is oil and gas, and its most recent lease sale last October generated more than $930,000 in revenues from leases targeting minerals. The agency now has about 2,700 oil and gas leases to get at minerals under trust land, with about 600 that have one or more wells on them, for about 1,500 wells on trust lands throughout the state.

For the 2007 fiscal year, about 40 percent of SITLA's $155 million in revenues came from oil and gas activities on SITLA land. But with lower oil prices these days, SITLA's oil and gas revenues are expected to drop. The agency's oil- and gas-lease sales this year are planned for April, July and October.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com