Proposed Changes To San Rafael Swell Recreation Area Will Reduce Protections, Says Group

The Bureau of Land Management’s proposed resource management plan (RMP) amendment for the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area in Utah removes over 12,000 acres of natural areas and eliminates commonsense recreation management and resource protection requirements, according to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA).

The RMP was amended as a result of the 2019 Dingell Act, which designated 663,000 acres of BLM-managed wilderness within 17 new wilderness areas, established the 117,000-acre San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, added 63 miles of the Green River to the National Wild and Scenic River System, and designated the John Wesley Powell National Conservation Area and the Jurassic National Monument. The legislation required BLM to update its management plan for each of the affected areas.

SUWA says that the RMP amendments: 

• Remove over 12,000 acres of natural areas—wilderness quality lands managed to protect their wilderness values—located outside of designated wilderness to allow increased development and off-road vehicle use. 
• Eliminate the San Rafael Swell Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA) and instead designate four new Extensive Recreation Management Areas (ERMAs), a less meaningful designation where recreation is not the primary management focus but instead is integrated into other land uses such as grazing and mineral development. 
• Eliminate commonsense recreation management and resource protection requirements to pack out human waste, use fire pans, and not collect firewood at dispersed campsites  
• Reduce or eliminate Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) outside of designated wilderness that will allow for increased development and associated impacts in those areas
• Reduce protections for visual resources in some areas to allow development that conflicts with maintaining scenic viewsheds. 

“We’re disappointed that BLM, at the behest of the Trump administration, squandered this opportunity to set out a proactive, comprehensive vision for resource protection and recreation management in the incredible San Rafael Swell and instead focused its energy and limited resources on rolling back existing protections to allow for more development and off-road vehicle abuse,” said Neal Clark, wildlands director at SUWA.