Keep Them Wild

Last August the federal district court in Salt Lake City ruled that the Bureau of Land Management violated federal environmental laws when it sold oil and gas leases on 16 parcels of wilderness quality lands in southern Utah. Working in partnership with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Wilderness Society, NRDC had filed suit against the bureau in 2003, contesting its decision to put lands up for auction without first considering the impact that oil and gas drilling would have on their wilderness character. In fact, the bureau itself had acknowledged the special, wild nature of many of these very same parcels of land. Nevertheless, the Bush administration has appealed the ruling. NRDC and its allies plan to continue the fight to preserve the magnificent wildlands at stake, including Desolation Canyon, the Book Cliffs, and the Flat Tops -- areas that provide crucial habitat for bighorn sheep, elk, cougars, peregrine falcons, and other wildlife.