St. George • Nearly 3,000 acres of Mojave desert tortoise habitat and prime recreation land, including the renowned Bearclaw Poppy and Zen trails, could give way to affordable and luxury housing.
This is the warning state and Washington County officials are sounding about Zone 6, the name given to the roughly 6,800 acres — evenly split between the federal Bureau of Land Management and the Utah Trust Lands Administration — that was set aside near St. George several years ago to offset the impact of building the proposed 4.5-mile Northern Corridor Highway across the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.
Legions of hikers, mountain bikers and other outdoor recreation buffs are trying to rally public support in a last-ditch effort to save Zone 6, which includes miles of multiple-use trails and rock-climbing features.
In January 2021, the Trump administration approved the right-of-way for the highway aimed at easing traffic gridlock in the St. George area. To mitigate the damage to prime habitat for Mojave desert tortoises and other endangered species, the county struck a deal with the federal government to create Zone 6, which is located west of Bloomington and is separate from the rest of Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, which encompasses the conservation area.
End of the road?
As a result of a lawsuit brought by Conserve Southwest Utah and other conservation groups, the highway has been put on hold while federal agencies conduct a supplemental environmental study that would build on the original. If the Biden administration rejects approval for the Northern Corridor when that study is released, state and county officials say Utah will be forced to sell its trust lands in Zone 6.
“If [the federal government] undoes their agreement, we simply will undo our agreement,” said Aaron Langston, assistant managing director of the Trust Lands Administration’s Washington County office.
On Oct. 1, Trust Lands Administration officials took the first step toward opening nearly 2,800 acres to development by soliciting requests for proposals from government agencies to entice development on roughly 1,200 acres in the southern half of the administration’s land holdings in Zone 6. Langston said the goal is to see what money and other resources the state Legislature and other government entities might bring to the table to provide developers with incentives to build high-density affordable homes on the land.
In January, he explained, the state then plans to put the property up for sale to private developers for three months before selecting one to develop the southern parcel, near Bloomington. Currently, there are no concrete plans to develop the northern half, known as “Tonaquint,” located near Moe’s Valley. Eventually, though, its 1,554 acres could be divided into lots between 2.5 and 5 acres and sold to developers for the construction of luxury homes with multimillion-dollar price tags.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
If the land is developed, according to Langston, roughly 60% of all trails in the zone would be negatively impacted, including the popular Bearclaw Poppy and Zen trails. Development would also adversely affect more than 300 bouldering and 80 rock-climbing routes.
For outdoor recreation enthusiasts like Supe Lillywhite, that is unacceptable, especially because visitors from as far away as France and Australia trek to the zone to enjoy its world-class climbing. Moreover, he added, the Bearclaw Poppy Trail is the oldest trail in St. George.
“Nearly every mountain biker who has ever visited St. George has ridden on that trail,” Lillywhite said. “And the Zen Trail is equally famous and one of the most technically difficult mountain-biking trails in Utah.”
Lillywhite said the zone is where he takes his kids to ride. It allows recreationists and wildlife, he said, to coexist.
“What can’t coexist is a house or a driveway being built on top of a tortoise’s burrow,” he said. “The tortoises will have to be moved or die off in the area.”
Petitioning for protection
(Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Bearclaw Poppy trailhead in St. George, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024.
Lillywhite and other recreationists are circulating a petition online calling for the preservation of Zone 6, which has garnered thousands of signatures. One possible solution they propose to stave off development is tapping federal dollars to buy the land.
Since its creation by Congress in 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund collects about $900 million in royalties each year from energy companies’ offshore oil and gas drilling on the nation’s Outer Continental Shelf — money that is used to safeguard significant natural and cultural heritage areas and preserve recreation opportunities across America.
But Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke argues that even in the extremely unlikely event that everyone agreed to drain every drop of that national fund and use it to buy Zone 6, it still wouldn’t be enough money to cover the price tag of the property. It also is not reasonable, he added, to expect the Utah Trust Lands Administration to change its mission, which obligates it to sell the land to make money for Utah’s schools.
“Can I brainstorm and come up with ideas [to preserve Zone 6] and put them on a whiteboard?” Clark said. “Sure, but none of them work.”
County officials insist failure to build the Northern Corridor Highway would hurt the economy and clog roads, especially on major east-west traffic arteries that are in short supply in the St. George area. They argue the only surefire solution to save Zone 6 is for Conserve Southwest Utah to withdraw its opposition to the highway.
Holly Snow Canada, executive director of the conservation group, counters the Zone 6 deal does not permanently protect the trust lands from development, and argues that protecting the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and the Moe’s Valley area are separate issues. Furthermore, she contends, the public wants permanent protection put in place for both areas.
“If the Northern Corridor Highway is denied,” she wrote in an email, “there are many paths to protecting the Greater Moe’s Valley Area in a way that’s permanent and more secure than the current voluntary ‘Zone 6′ deal. Washington County has spent millions of dollars over the last few decades on a highway that would make traffic worse, increase wildfire risk, and harm beloved recreation areas, instead of using that time and those resources to protect the places that are important to the community.
“Now is the time” Canada continued, “for our local leaders to step up and say ‘no’ to the highway through our backyard treasure, Red Cliffs, and ‘yes’ to permanent protections for the recreation jewel, the Greater Moe’s Valley Area.”
Caching versus cashing out
State and county officials argue otherwise. They say the Trust Lands Administration set aside Zone 6 in exchange for approval of the Northern Corridor Highway, which would funnel traffic from western Washington County to 200 acres of commercially zoned land the agency owns to the east, near Interstate 15. Construction of the highway, they add, would enhance the value of the land, accelerate its development and generate more dollars for education.
Washington County Commissioner Adam Snow said the Utah Trust Lands Administration can’t fulfill its mandate if it caches rather than cashes out its land because of public sentiment.
“Where does that stop?” he asked. “Every square foot of land … Utah [owns], somebody is going to claim a public good for. Then how does [the agency] fulfill its mandate to raise money for school children?”
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