If Congress is able to follow through on it, more than 10,000 acres of public land in southwest Utah could change hands.
The sale, though, would essentially trade one government owner for another. Washington County, the city of St. George and the Washington County Water Conservancy District would each pick up acres that could benefit future road and water projects.
“We're not trying to sell off pristine acres of wilderness for development,” Washington County Commissioner Adam Snow said. “We're looking at targeted small parcels for infrastructure and transportation needs to accommodate the citizens and the visitors to the area.”
The proposal introduced by Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei and Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy, however, is another salvo in an ongoing tug-of-war over federal lands. Environmental groups worry the amendment to the Republican budget reconciliation bill could open the door to privatizing natural landscapes in Washington County and across the region.
“At this moment, we're really concerned,” Steve Bloch, legal director with Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said. “We're taking this at face value as just an absolute existential threat to the future of federal lands in the West.”
The amendment still has additional steps before it would go into effect. It passed favorably out of the House Natural Resources Committee, and it now heads to the full House of Representatives.
Water
Unlike the Nevada side of the plan — which encompasses significantly more acreage — hardly any of the land in Utah is expected to go toward building attainable housing. Instead, many of the parcels are tied to Washington County’s water supply.
“What they're trying to do is completely different to what we're trying to do in our area,” conservancy district General Manager Zach Renstrom said. “I really do thank Congresswoman Maloy for doing this. I just wish it wasn't tied up with Nevada.”
The district’s engineers identified the parcels as places that will need future water tanks or pipelines as the county grows, Renstrom said, and he estimates the land would cost the district tens of millions of dollars.
The district already has some pipelines and wells on federal land, Renstrom noted, but the permitting process to build and maintain water infrastructure there can be expensive, slow and unpredictable. If they’re not able to buy the parcels listed in the amendment, that’s the process he said the district will pursue. Owning the land would allow them to avoid some of that.
“We have no idea what Congress may do. We have no idea what a new administration might do — or even this administration,” he said. “So, it's just removing that uncertainty moving forward.”
There are similarities between some areas marked on an amendment map and plans for the currently on-hold Lake Powell Pipeline. The proposed 140-mile buried conduit was shelved as drought drained Lake Powell to record lows and Colorado River Basin states bickered over how to share the strained water source. It’s possible, Bloch said, the county could use the land it acquires to someday resurrect that project.
“Not everything on their map, I think, ties into the Lake Powell Pipeline, but certainly several of them do,” Bloch said. “I would be stunned if they would not acknowledge that.”
While leaders from Washington County, St. George and the conservancy district have all previously supported the plan, Renstrom disputes that the paused project has any connection to Maloy’s amendment.
“The Lake Powell Pipeline has nothing to do with the lands transfer bill that's been presented,” he said. “Zero.”
The parcels that resemble the pipeline’s proposed path near the Arizona border would be used for a potential road linking southern St. George with the Short Creek area, county Commissioner Snow said, and that would still be many years from becoming reality.
The area’s limited water supply has plenty of other connections to parcels on the conservancy district’s map, though.
One plot near Ivins along Old Highway 91 is eyed as a water treatment plant, which Renstrom said would allow the district to clean water from Gunlock Reservoir. It put the planned Dry Wash Reservoir on hold earlier this year after local pushback, so bringing water from Gunlock could help it supply enough drinking water to that part of town.
Another piece of land directly north of Ivins’ Kayenta community is in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, which is also home to the long-fought-over Northern Corridor highway. The district would like to add water storage there.
After KUER informed him that the parcel is within Red Cliffs, however, Renstrom said his team will begin looking for another place outside the conservation area.
“We will try to avoid it, if possible,” he said. “So I've gone back to the engineers and said, ‘Hey, let's relook at this.’”
The largest parcel on the water district’s map — nearly 3,200 acres south of Hurricane — would become a future reservoir to meet demand as that part of town grows, Renstrom said. It could also potentially be used for pump storage, a process that moves water up and down in elevation to generate electricity.
The city of St. George map includes land for water projects, such as the proposed Graveyard Wash reservoir, too. There’s also space next to the city’s wastewater reclamation site that would allow the sewage recycling plant to expand its operations — a key piece of the county’s 20-year water plan.
Roads
The Washington County map includes dozens of sections of existing or proposed roadways, along with larger plots near the fairgrounds and along the highway to Zion National Park.
“Not all of the parcels on here are created equal,” Snow said. “I don't think we can buy every single one of these acres immediately. So, we'd have to prioritize.”
One of the county’s top concerns is buying Sheep Bridge Road east of Hurricane. The idea would be to pave it to create a bypass between Route 59 and Route 9 for RVs and tour buses visiting Zion.
Kolob Terrace Road, which leads to a relatively undeveloped portion of Zion National Park, would be a good candidate for improvements and widening to add a passing lane, he said. Another parcel includes a long stretch of Old Highway 91 that goes through Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area south of the Shivwits Band of Paiutes tribal land. The plan would be to add a bike path along the right-of-way.
Both the county and city maps include proposed routes for building a highway on the southwest side of St. George called the Western Corridor. It would pass through BLM land between Santa Clara and the SunRiver area.
Similar to the Northern Corridor, it would be a freeway with no development alongside it, Snow said. The road’s details are far from finalized, but like its counterpart to the north, he expects the idea may draw some pushback.
“You can alleviate many people's concerns with proper design. Does that mean you're gonna alleviate all concerns? No,” Snow said. “But as far as traffic modeling goes, you need something to alleviate the traffic from the western side of St George city.”
Two of the larger parcels on the county’s map, located along Route 9 to Zion, would be planned for mountain biking trails and other outdoor recreation, Snow said. One of them, a 311.5-acre plot that borders the park, is near the small town of Rockville and the Coalpits Wash trail.
Seeing federal land sold so close to Zion could be a potential disaster, said Bloch. While the initial sale would transfer the land to local governments, he said it would free up local leaders to pass it to private hands later and open the door to a resort or other development.
“There's nothing saying that the lands have to remain open for public access, or that Washington County or the city of St. George simply won't sell them,” Bloch said.
Snow said he would be on board with adding deed restrictions to these larger parcels to alleviate concerns that they may be developed or sold off later.
Housing
Only a 9.5-acre plot in southwest St. George is planned for housing development. It’s located between Tonaquint Intermediate School and Thunder Junction Park.
“It's already surrounded by subdivisions, so it's already been developed,” St. George Government Affairs Director Shawn Guzman said. “It just seems like an ideal place.”
It also fits with the city’s strategy to mix higher-density housing developments with single-family houses, he said, so that affordable homes aren’t segregated to particular parts of town.
The median home price in St. George is more than $600,000.
There are architectural strategies for making sure the new homes don’t price out potential buyers, Guzman said, like having narrower lots with deep-but-skinny tandem garages or standalone garages in the rear.
There are also policy solutions, such as deed restrictions dictating how the property can be used or a system where some of the equity homeowners build up could return to a city fund for building more affordable housing.
“We haven't hammered out which way we would do it, but cities throughout the state have come up with different ideas on how to make sure that it's not something that is purchased and flipped right away for more money.”
The city would implement rules to keep the homes from being used as short-term rentals, too.
Still, Bloch said recent surveys and previous failed attempts to sell off federal land have shown that Utahns don’t want the region’s landscape divvied up. If Maloy’s amendment becomes reality, he worries its ripple effects could change the environment across the West.
“The biggest concern is what happens in Utah doesn't necessarily stay in Utah,” Bloch said. “Many in the conservation community, the hunter-angler community, are really concerned about the kind of precedent that this would set.”
Editor’s note: Shawn Guzman is part of KUER’s advisory board.
