SALT LAKE CITY — Bills have been introduced in Congress to advance a major land swap between the state of Utah and the federal government inside Bears Ears National Monument.
Hearings will begin in Washington D.C. this week for bills proposed by Rep. John Curtis and Sen. Mike Lee. Utah's entire Republican congressional delegation has signed on as co-sponsors.
"I'm cautiously optimistic, because until it’s across the finish line it’s never across the finish line," Rep. Curtis told FOX 13 News on Tuesday. "But it is an issue that should bring strong bipartisan support and recognition it’s a good thing for the area."
Bears Ears National Monument has been controversial since its creation. It was designated by then-President Obama in 2016. Two years later, then-President Trump shrunk the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In 2021, President Biden reinstated the original boundaries.
What's being proposed is a trade: the Utah School Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) will give up parcels it has inside the Bears Ears boundaries and by the Bonneville Salt Flats. In exchange, the U.S. Department of Interior will give the state lands it controls that are scattered across Utah. That land can be used for energy development, grazing or other needs and generate money for Utah's public school system. Such a deal could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Utah public education, Rep. Curtis said.
An interactive map can be found here.
FOX 13 News was in a meeting last week of the Utah State Legislative Management Committee, made up of Republican and Democratic leadership in the House and Senate. SITLA Executive Director Michelle McConkie testified it involved roughly 162,000 acres of land.
"This would allow us to exchange some of that land that is scattered throughout Bears Ears National Monument and other sensitive areas of the state... that is really difficult for us to make money on partially because of the scattered nature," McConkie told lawmakers. "When you add restrictive federal land management as there is with a national monument in Bears Ears? It makes it even more difficult."
Last year, legislative leaders gave initial approval to start negotiating a land exchange. House Majority Leader Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, made the motion to move forward with this latest deal at last week's hearing on Utah's Capitol Hill. It passed unanimously in the committee with no debate.
"This is a big issue for our school kids and to make sure we’re able to maintain the validity and economics of trying to move these lands around to get the highest and best use," said Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton.
Tribal and environmental groups that FOX 13 News contacted have so far declined to take a position on the land swap. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has given support to the concept of a land swap in the past, while cautioning that the details of such a deal were crucial. Some of those groups are still suing over President Trump's decision to shrink the monument boundaries.
"I know we’ve worked really hard with the tribes to make sure we had input from them and they feel good about it," Congressman Curtis said.
The land swap would not impact the Utah Attorney General's lawsuit against the Biden administration challenging the President's use of the Antiquities Act to designate a national monument.
"I think it’s really important to point out, this doesn’t resolve Bears Ears. This is a sub-issue to Bears Ears," Rep. Curtis told FOX 13 News.
Rep. Curtis' bill authorizing the land exchange will get its first hearing on Thursday.
