The Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin Desert, and the Mojave Desert come together in Washington County, Utah, where the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (RCNCA) is generally centered. In this transition zone, unusual plant and animal species have evolved, including the dwarf bearclaw-poppy (Arctomecon humilis) and Shivwits milk-vetch (Astragalus ampullarioides), small native plants that grow nowhere else on earth. The hot, arid Mojave Desert provides habitat for diverse wildlife, such as the kit fox (Vulpes macrotis), Gambel’s quail (Callipepla gambelii), and the Mojave Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). There are two wilderness areas within the RCNCA: Red Mountain and Cottonwood Canyon.
As the Trump administration was slithering out the door in mid-January, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued decisions that would put a new 4.5-mile-long four-lane divided highway with a 500-foot right-of-way (but also with pedestrian and bike paths!) through both the RCNCA and a particular stronghold for the imperiled Mojave desert tortoise (Figure 2). To violate a creep (the collective noun for tortoises) of laws, the Trump administration spent $8.4 million for an expedited review to facilitate the “Northern Corridor Highway.”
Figure 2. The Mojave desert tortoise. Source: Wikipedia.
“In Perpetuity”? Not!
The RCNCA (Map 1) was established by Congress in 2009 as part of an Endangered Species Act–driven grand bargain that would allow for the continued cancerous growth of human population in St. George, Utah, but leave some room for the federally endangered Mojave desert tortoise. As part of the grand bargain, the development of 300,000 acres of private lands was allowed in exchange for the protection “in perpetuity” of 62,000-acre Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, which was the creature of a habitat conservation plan signed off on by the parties a quarter century ago. Congress then established the 44,724-acre Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, administered by the Bureau of Land Management, which is generally a subset of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
Map 1. The Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. Source: Bureau of Land Management.
Turnover since 2009 in the Utah congressional delegation (Senators Orin Hatch and Robert Bennett retired and Senators Mike Lee and Mitt Romney replaced them) resulted in legislation being introduced to tweak (pronounced “re-VOKE”) the grand bargain. Fortunately, bills to gut the RCNCA went nowhere. Then along came the Trump administration, which decided if the law could not be revoked by legislative branch, it could be ignored by the executive branch. (Spoiler alert: there is also a judicial branch.)
Never satisfied and always disingenuous, the powers that be in St. George want the so-called Northern Corridor Highway in order to relieve traffic in the highly congested seat of Washington County, Utah. There are alternatives, but the growth crowd will have none of it, to which I can only say: you have made your city, now live (with)in it.
Figure 3. Sprawl at the edge of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. Source: Bureau of Land Management.
As mitigation, the developer mafia (abetted by the Fish and Wildlife Service) has offered up 7,000 acres of other public lands. However, these are already public lands, and while these lands have tortoises, the habitat is not as great as what would be lost. It’s not like anyone is making new desert tortoise habitat these days. Promising (again) to not harm a certain area in exchange for harming another area is not effective mitigation.
The Creep of Laws Violated
Why doesn’t the Biden administration just reverse the Trumpian decisions? It could, but it’s not really paying attention. What’s a conservationist to do?
How about a lawsuit? There’s nothing like it to focus attention. A lawsuit either compels or allows a government official to do the right thing. Whether the lawsuit has the effect of a kick in the ass or to cover the ass, the lawsuit is necessary. In this case, the lawsuit will draw the attention of government officials to five not insignificant federal laws.
Land and Water Conservation Fund Act
Earlier the BLM spent $21 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to acquire nonfederal lands for inclusion in the RCNCA. Now it has approved a highway through or near many of those acquisitions. Call me a radical, but I believe funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund are to fund the conservation of land and water. The law says so too.
Endangered Species Act
The Fish and Wildlife Service has approved a road directly through the area with the highest density of ESA-listed desert tortoises in the NCA. Call me a radical, but I don’t believe that’s within the letter or spirit of the ESA. The law says so too.
Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009
The statute that established the RCNCA requires the BLM to
· “conserve, protect, and enhance for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations the ecological, scenic, wildlife, recreational, cultural, historical, natural, educational, and scientific resources of the National Conservation Area”; and
· “protect each species that is . . . located in the National Conservation Area and listed as a threatened or endangered species.”
What part of “conserve” and “protect” does the BLM not understand?
Figure 4. To the BLM, a 4.5-mile-long four-lane divided highway with a 500-foot right-of-way is consistent with the purposes of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. Source: Bureau of Land Management.
Federal Land Policy and Management Act
Under this basic congressional statute pertaining to the BLM, the agency must prevent “unnecessary or undue degradation” of public lands. BLM regulations state that one way to meet that obligation is to fully attain the protections required in national conservation areas. Another inconvenient truth.
National Environmental Policy Act
Among many things, the National Environmental Policy Act requires the BLM to take hard looks, consider alternatives, and tell the truth. The agency has not.
What’s Next?
The Red Cliffs Conservation Coalition is carrying on the fight. Go team! (The coalition includes Basin and Range Watch, Back Country Horsemen of America–Utah, Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Lands Foundation, Conserve Southwest Utah, Defenders of Wildlife, Desert Tortoise Council, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Sierra Club–Utah, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Utah Audubon Council, Utah Native Plant Society, The Wilderness Society, Western Watersheds Project, and WildEarth Guardians.)
Litigation is highly likely. Very fortunately, on the case is Advocates for the West, a kick-ass public interest law firm. Perhaps once the lawsuit is filed, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice will advise the BLM and the FWS to settle the case, as their decisions are neither legally nor morally defensible.
Figure 5. Red, more than Cliffs, is the most operative word in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. Source: Bureau of Land Management.
For More Information
• Map of Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and Red Cliff National Conservation Area.
• US Fish and Wildlife Service. Mojave Desert Tortoise (webpage).
• Advocates for the West. September 10, 2020. Fighting to Stop BLM’s Plan to Build a Four-Lane Highway on Utah Lands Set Aside for Conservation (webpage).
• Maffly, Brian. September 19, 2020. Feds' preferred highway route would impact lands it spent millions acquiring for conservation. Salt Lake Tribune.
• Red Cliffs Conservation Coalition. December 14, 2020. Protest of the Northern Corridor Final Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendments.
• Maffly, Brian. January 14, 2021. Feds approve highway across Washington County’s Red Cliffs conservation area. Salt Lake Tribune.
Figure 6. “Red Dirt National Conservation Area” doesn’t quite have the right ring to it. Source: Bureau of Land Management.