Business and ranching interests threaten Utah national monuments and public lands
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · May 6
Business and ranching interests threaten Utah national monuments and public lands
5 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · May 6
In Garfield County, Utah, opponents are targeting the 62-mile Hole-in-the-Rock Road inside Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, created in 1996.
County commissioner Leland Pollock and state-backed local officials argue a Civil War-era statute gives the county special control over the route despite Bureau of Land Management ownership.
The dispute pits a thriving tourism economy and protections for dinosaur fossils and Native artefacts against demands for more grazing, logging and other commercial uses.
Can Utah's iconic monument balance the demands of local ranchers with the preservation of sacred tribal sites and priceless dinosaur fossils?
Is a historic 62-mile pioneer road the key to deciding the fate of a nearly two-million-acre national monument?