U.S. Bureau of Land Management

The proposal would make 18.7 million acres of Utah public lands eligible to be sold, including parcels that overlap with popular trails like Mount Ogden, Grandeur Peak and Mount Timpanogos.

Environmental reviews of mining operations normally take months or years. But after President Donald Trump declared a “national energy emergency,” it took just 11 days for the Bureau of Land Management to approve the Velvet-Wood uranium mine's plan to resume operations in San Juan County.

Because a lot of water from the San Rafael River gets used upstream, more of its path through southeast Utah is drying up. That’s transforming the river’s flow patterns and leaving native fish stranded. But scientists are testing ways to give them a better chance at survival.

“We can't post policemen at every rock art or rock writing site,” said Southern Utah University's Samantha Kirkley. So the key is helping kids develop a link to the past.

“Utah remains able and willing to challenge any BLM land management decisions that harm Utah,” state leadership said in a statement.

The high court on Monday refused to let the GOP-controlled state file a lawsuit seeking to bring the land and its resources under state control. The decision came in a brief order in which the court did not explain its reasoning, as is typical.

Utah believes it should have ownership over some federally managed land, but environmentalists argue the move backpedals on the agreement that made Utah a state.

The Northern Corridor Highway alternative route chosen by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would avoid building a new road through prime Mojave Desert tortoise habitat.

A 3-2 vote on Thursday by Wyoming's top five elected officials ends decades of threats to sell the square-mile parcel to the highest-bidding private developer. The land has been a bone of contention between the state and federal officials for decades.

Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah has been at the center of political fights over public land in recent years. The upcoming presidential election threatens to continue escalating that tug-of-war.

Zone 6 is a popular recreation spot and desert tortoise habitat that was protected as part of the deal to build a highway near St. George. Local leaders and the state now say if the highway doesn’t happen, the land is open for business.

The push to build homes on federal land is gaining momentum. But just because Utah has plenty of public land, that doesn’t mean it’s ripe for development.