Public Lands of Utah

The United States owns most of the land in Utah (66%), primarily as forest reserves, national parks, military sites, and other “public lands”—an additional 23-million acres managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). When Utah became a state in 1896, the federal government took title to all undeeded lands. The United States agreed to dispose of (e.g., sell or grant) those public lands overtime, giving 5% of the sales price to Utah to support education. This is the same deal that the federal government made will most states in the Union as each state sought statehood.

During most of the 20th Century, public lands were used (and often abused) for livestock grazing and mining. Gradually, management of the lands shifted from aggressive utilization to preservation. The first big change in management of the public lands was the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, protecting rangelands and waterways from overgrazing. As the environmental movement of the 1960s and ‘70s grew, so did concerns over the degradation of public lands.

In 1976, Congress passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (“FLPMA”), abruptly changing its approach from disposal of the public lands to retention. Though FLPMA mandates broad “multiple use” of the public lands, management determinations and federal court decisions increasingly limit livestock, mining, and timbering uses on public lands.

Great debates rage in Utah regarding use of the land versus preservation of the land. Those debates include wilderness designation, roads and access, and monument designations (i.e., Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments).

Republicans tend to argue that the significant amount of federally-owned land in Utah denies the state revenues, because the lands are not on the property tax rolls and because income-generating activities are increasingly banned. Democrats tend to argue that Utah’s pristine open spaces bring in significant revenue from tourism-related activities.