blasted Utahns would drain all the wetlands, cut down all the forests, and start open strip mines on every mountain if they could.

It's about time someone reigned in SUWA. SUWA would have you looking at great scenery on postcards and calenders alone, never being allowed to see it in person. Why are people in Washington allowed to tell me what part of the state I can operate an ATV on. As a responsible atv owner I never cut trail, always pick up my own and someone elses garbage along the trail, and even been known to clean up "waste" left behind by backpackers. ATV clubs are out every weekend cleaning and maintaining trails, paying big money to the state for land use fees and registartion fees. ATV riders dump a load of money into economies of Koosharem, Marysvale, Richfield, Moab, and the like. Let's not even start the conversation of how a disabled person is supposed to see the great outdoors when millions of acres are closed to motorized travel. Leave the land open for use.

Making open land as a "wilderness" area, in effect shuts it down.If yoy are walking in this area and fall,get injured don't look for a helicopter to come in and take you out---they can't fly overa wilderness area,it's ILLEGAL.

there is more than enough of this wilderness area now. You "tree huggers"seem to want to keep things the way nature made them Great!! Are you ready to go baxck to wearing animal furs,living in a cave,no sores,etc.,etc.?? Wake up!! join the real world. No more wilderness esignations in Utah. If congress want to designate, how about designating Washinton, D.C. ??
tree huggers

Long before any of those Godless environmentalists from back east even know where Utah was, our ancestors were busy taking care of this land while earning a living from the multitude of resources that it provided. Now, those eastern elitists look around and realize that they have ruined their part of the world, so they set our sights on ours. I say good riddence to SUWA and all their kind. We don't need you to tell us how to manage our lands. We've been doing a great job of it without your interference. Three cheers for the Utah Legislature!

Is it just me, or does it make sense that those who live and work near a patch of land should have a strong voice in the land's fate? Having decisions made by people who haven't even been to the land, let alone live their lives in it, makes no sense at all. There's a real arrogance in Washington sometimes.

Those legislators think everybody's out of step but Utah. Many wilderness areas have been designated on BLM public lands in other western states, and they are serving the public well by protecting irreplaceable unspoiled landscapes for enjoyment in the years ahead. Without wilderness status, they would be wrecked by more roads, more drilling, and more ORVs.

You can fly over a wilderness area, you can land a helicopter to evacuate a critical person, my mobility challenged Dad appreciates the unsullied wilderness vistas that he sees from Utah's many roads (without ever actually setting foot in a wilderness), wilderness lands provide grazing, clean water, hunting, and recreation so it is in fact being used, and I been a Western treehugger all my life, having to point out these same flaws to the same bogus arguments every year when they appear. Oh, and I attend church, let us describe it as, "religiously".

At the same time Liberal New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey (sponsor of H.R. 1919) is trying to lock up our Utah 'Oil Shale Reserves' in his 'Red Rock Wilderness Bill', he is asking the taxpayers of this country to flip the bill by requesting an increase for the heat assistance program in his State. An increase of $14,000,000.00. He does'nt want to see us productive, nor energy independent, yet he wants our $$$ to keep his state warm. How does that work? We have got to stop this. There has got to be some production, to cover there consumption. I hate to see anybody cold. But let us find a way to warm them that makes some sense, and $$$. This country has got to get back on its feet. This country has got to prioritize these issues. Thank You State Legislature for taking this stand.

This is happening in Nevada, too with the wilderness groups proposing 195,638 acres in Lyon County, 497,251 acres in Mineral County, and 800,000 acres in the Bishop, CA area on into South East NV. We have to stand together against this, folks. These groups have made it clear that what they want is small islands surrounded by wilderness, locking all humans up in a zoo for people!