by Mike Popejoy, Utah Public Lands Director
What were you up to in 1986? Watching Golden Girls? Rocking out to Madonna?
1986 is the last time the Manti-La Sal National Forest, which encompasses the La Sal and Abajo mountains of southeast Utah’s canyon country and most of the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah, updated its forest plan. Forest plans are guiding documents the Forest Service uses to manage its lands, and they are supposed to last 10-15 years. At 35 years old and counting, the Manti-La Sal’s forest plan needs an update. The world has certainly changed since shoulder pads, after all.
The Manti-La Sal is currently revising its forest plan, and you have the opportunity to comment on how you think its alpine meadows, ponderosa forests, and mountain creeks should be managed into the future.
The Grand Canyon Trust, along with our partners, has been working on a “Conservation Alternative” for how we think the forest should be managed in light of climate change and the best available science. These landscapes are some of the most beautiful in Utah and also collect precious snow and rain, the lifeblood of the slickrock desert below. Read all about our vision, and see how our alternative compares to the Forest Service’s proposal ›
Below are some of our top priorities we’d like to see incorporated into the new forest plan. Please help us reinforce these points in your comments. The more you can personalize your comment and speak to your own experiences in the forest and your concerns for its future, the better.
A history of logging and tree removal has meant the erasure of centuries-old ponderosa, pinyon, and juniper trees. Tell the forest you’d like to see old-growth trees (over 150 years old) protected and younger forests allowed to develop into old-growth stands in the future.
The pinyon jay, a fascinating bird dependent on pinyon and juniper forests, is in trouble. Pinyon jay populations have declined by about 85% since 1970, with continued loss predicted. In light of these challenges for pinyon jays, encourage the forest to adopt the pinyon jay as an official “Species of Conservation Concern.”
Livestock grazing is permitted on nearly the entire Manti-La Sal National Forest at a level of 60% utilization, a jargony term that refers to how much of a plant may be consumed. Reducing the amount of grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs that are consumed would have far-reaching benefits for native plants, wildlife, and fragile water sources. The best available science shows that 30% utilization is not only better for the health of the land, but also is better for the economics of grazing.
Seems like a no-brainer, right? Tell the forest that you support a grazing standard of 30% utilization.
The Conservation Alternative includes a robust wilderness proposal that would ensure a broad range of ecosystems and habitats are protected for future generations of people and wildlife alike. These proposed protected areas use roads, mountain bike trails, and off-road vehicle routes as boundaries, meaning that a variety of recreation experiences would remain available for use as well.
Ask the forest to adopt the Conservation Alternative’s wilderness proposal and establish the following protected areas: Left Fork Huntington Creek Research Natural Area, Sinbad Ridge Research Natural Area, Red Towers Botanical Area, and Heliotrope Botanical Area.
The entirety of the Manti-La Sal National Forest (and much more) is ancestral lands for multiple Native nations. Tribes have thousands of years of locally relevant experience managing natural resources.
The forest should place the highest priority on preservation of cultural sites and expand the definition of cultural sites beyond the Western constructs of archaeology. The forest should include cultural resources as defined by Native nations, including culturally significant plants, waters, gathering places, and more.
Ask the Manti-La Sal National Forest to better encourage partnerships with Native nations to incorporate Indigenous traditional knowledge in its final plan.
While the draft forest plan laudably tries to increase protections for Manti-La Sal National Forest lands that were slashed from Bears Ears National Monument in 2017, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has recommended that full protection be returned to Bears Ears National Monument. President Biden is widely expected to sign a proclamation restoring Bears Ears soon. Planning for a renewed Bears Ears National Monument belongs in a revised monument management plan, not this forest plan, and it should be written in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management and with shared governance from Native nations.
Tell the forest not to include planning for Bears Ears National Monument in its forest plan.
This opportunity to comment is the first step in a long process. The deadline to comment is October 25, 2021. After this scoping period, the forest will prepare a draft environmental impact statement that will compare alternatives, including, we hope, the Conservation Alternative. You’ll have another opportunity to comment then, but the current scoping period provides a significant opportunity to shape the foundation of the new forest plan.
Take action. Make your voice heard on behalf of the Manti-La Sal National Forest before the October 25, 2021 deadline. Submit your comment today.
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