My wife and I went mountain biking near there last year (Cedar City/Hurricane). It’s nice country – really liked the trails around Gooseberry Mesa.
If I understand it correctly, the proposal would involve the BLM swapping 1,050 acres of OHV use land for 89 acres of land that is privately held. The 1,000 acres would be used to build a reservoir for Warner Valley, which they need. The 89 acres the BLM gets would benefit a protected desert tortoise. Some property owners may not be too happy to get booted, but they will at least get paid.
So everyone wins except for the Utah OHV enthusiasts, who just lose their 1050 acres.
In general, I wish there were a lot more public lands, not less. I am not a fan of development at all costs, including deforestation, draining river basins, etc. How about if instead developers turned their sights to fixing all our trashed urban areas? There’s plenty of prime real estate hidden in plain sight right there.
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