Congress is reviewing the latest proposal to expand the Utah Test and Training Range, which would place hundreds of thousands of acres of state and federal land under the purview of the U.S. Air Force and Bureau of Land Management.
The proposal would add 625,643 acres of BLM land in Tooele, Juab and Box Elder counties to the existing 1.7 million acres that comprise the UTTR. The expansion would also create a single contiguous territory between the north and south areas of the range.
Rep. Chris Stewart is sponsoring the bill, which comes on the heels of a similar bill from Sen. Orrin Hatch that was introduced in December and referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee.
In Stewart’s proposal, about 84,000 acres of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration land, scattered amongst federal land in the Great Salt Lake Desert, would be absorbed into the test range. In exchange, the state would gain approximately 99,000 acres of BLM land with established mineral resources.
The additional acreage is designed to create a buffer around the current test range to allow the testing of more advanced weapons, including F-35 bombers and long-range bombers.
According to a release from Stewart’s office, the Department of Defense identified encroachment from neighboring communities and increased unmanned aerial vehicle test flights at adjacent Dugway Proving Ground as reasons for the BLM land buffers.
Stewart said the changes would enhance the Air Force’s ability to use the range with current and future weapons.
“As a bomber pilot, I used the Utah Test and Training Range hundreds of times and it’s a critical national security asset,” he said in a statement. “While working to improve the range, I’ve also worked very hard to ensure that we are still protecting the existing ranching and recreational uses of the land.”
The bill maintains that current grazing, environmental or recreational uses of the land that would transfer to UTTR would not be affected if the measure is approved. The BLM would continue to maintain its current land, as well as lands from the SITLA exchange, if the bill passed.
The impact of the bill would come during training exercises, when the Secretary of the Air Force would be able to temporarily close access to roadways and land within the larger UTTR footprint. The bill would also not open the BLM lands to bombing during training exercises at the range.
The temporary closures of roadways would only occur at off-peak hours and would be limited to 100 total hours annually, according to Stewart’s bill. The public would be informed of the closures at least 30 days before they go into effect and livestock would be able to remain on grazing land during the temporary closures.
While Interstate 80 would bisect the training range under the expansion, the highway would never be affected by any of the temporary closures at UTTR.
When presenting a similar proposal in October 2014, members of Hatch’s staff met with Tooele County ranchers, who expressed concerns about public access, road closures and grazing rights. One concern voiced was no additional grazing leases would be granted, but Stewart’s proposal would allow the BLM to issue new leases or permits while maintaining existing leases within current state and federal laws.
The bill would also not alter the agreements related to the establishment of bighorn sheep in the Newfoundland Mountains. The Cedar Mountains Wilderness Area would be included in the UTTR expansion but would continue under the current management of the federal government; no new wilderness areas would be created as part of the bill.