Utah's public lands initiative to be unveiled March 27 (and a comparison to how we were treated in NM)

The much-awaited, much-touted public lands initiative dubbed the "Grand Bargain" is slated to be released in draft form March 27, along with a map that carves out land-use designations for a huge chunk of eastern Utah. Utah's congressional delegation announced Wednesday they are putting the final touches on the massive proposal, which involves a geographic blueprint covering 18 million acres of federal lands and 1.6 million acres of wilderness study areas in the state. On Feb. 15, participants in the process will mark a three-year milestone of negotiation, bartering, compromise, concessions and begrudging acceptance as they have worked through more than 60 detailed proposals. "The goal then was to bring land-use certainty, economic development, land conservation, and enhanced land models to eastern Utah counties," according to a letter sent out Wednesday by Utah's congressional delegation. "We're pleased to report that our goals are still very much attainable and we're on track to move forward in the near future." Seven counties — Carbon, Daggett, Emery, Grand, San Juan, Summit and Uintah — are seated at the table, as well as 120 interest groups that include the oil and gas industry, archaeological associations, environmental organizations, sportsmen clubs and conservation interests. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has been at the forefront of the effort, joined in large measure by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and the rest of Utah's congressional delegation. So far, the congressional offices have hosted nearly 1,000 meetings, with employees logging more than 50,000 miles and spent hours upon hours dissecting maps and rewriting proposals...more

And there you see how politicians, if they really want to reach a consensus on land use, set up a process that includes all stakeholders and all approaches to conservation.

Instead, in southern New Mexico, Senators Bingaman-Udall and then Udall-Heinrich, would entertain only one proposal, that being the one of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.  No putting all the stakeholders together, no discussion of other proposals or approaches.  Just here's our proposal, feel free to comment, and then wham! - legislation is introduced.  This "ram it down your throat" approach to land use designations was unsuccessful, however, as none of their bills made it to the Senate floor for a vote.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and others have said they've had assurances by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell that any new monument designations for Utah are on hold pending the success of the process.

In Utah, where a legitimate, consensus-seeking process is underway, national monuments are off the table.  In New Mexico the exact opposite occurred.  Knowing they didn't have local consensus and unable to convince their colleagues to vote for their legislation, Udall-Heinrich went running to the rammer-in-chief, President Obama.  And even though a national monument designation based on the failed legislation was opposed by the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Dona Ana County Sheriff, Dona Ana SWCD, EBID, Mesilla Valley Sportsmen's Alliance, etc., the hammer came down.

There was no opportunity to comment on the language in the proclamation, to recommend revisions or for "negotiation, bartering, compromise, concessions" as the people of Utah were afforded.  

No consensus, just one man's signature on a piece of paper. 

What a shameful way to treat the local citizenry.