We're adding digested monthly mini-newsletters to our quarterly newsletter schedule.
Our Fall 2013 edition with our full outings schedule is now available in its tree-friendly, PDF version version.
In the November 2013 issue:
The Idea of Wilderness Needs No Defense, Only More Defenders
BLM withdraws oil and gas lease parcels in the San Rafael Swell
In early September, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced a plan to auction off nearly 80,000 acreas of Utah's scenic San Rafael Swell for oil and gas leasing. Areas like Eagle Canyon and Lost Springs Wash have been determined to have wilderness character and are part of America’s Redrock Wilderness Act. In response to a public protest organized by the Sierra Club and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, formal written protests submitted by the same organizations and many others, and ongoing petitions against the lease sale, the BLM announced on November 15 that these parcels will be pulled from the lease sale scheduled for November 19. Our hats are off to our coalition partners for helping with this tremendous victory, but also especially to our membership for answering the call. You made a huge difference! Photo of Saddle Horse Canyon courtesy of Bryan Brown
Courts reject BLM's RMP for Richfield District
The George W Bush presidency left a big legacy across the West, and by and large, it wasn't pretty. One of those pending scars would have been more than 4,200 miles of new roads across fragile landscapes in central and southern Utah in BLM’s Resource Management Plan for the Richfield District. But parts of that plan were recently sent back for a re-write to the agency by a district court after the Sierra Club and our partners challenged it. The court agreed with us that BLM's designation of so many routes failed to consider the impacts to streams, native plants, wildlife, soils and cultural resources. This is a big win for sensitive places like the Henry Mountains, Factory Butte and the Dirty Devil complex. But stay tuned. This is just one of six Utah RMPs we challenged. The others have yet to be decided.
Help us keep the momentum in our campaign to protect Utah's Red Rock Country, and make a generous gift now.
Rally Tomorrow to Protect Environmental Safeguards from Secretive New Agreement
Tuesday, November 19 • 12:00 noon
555 South Main St (Outside Grand America Hotel) • Salt Lake City, Utah
Lead negotiators from twelve countries across the Pacific Rim will be meeting at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City from November 19 to 24 to push the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership towards completion. This massive NAFTA-style pact will affect jobs, the environment, consumer safety and more — but negotiators refuse to tell the public what they are proposing in our names. Meanwhile, they have granted hundreds of corporate and industry lobbyists access to the text, representing Walmart, Chevron, Cargill and more.
Join environmental, consumer, labor, public health and other social justice advocates for a press event and rally aimed at dragging the TPP out of the shadows. For more info, email jesse.prentice-dunn@sierraclub.org.
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