Moab is one of the premier outdoor recreation communities in the world. Each year, we host millions of visitors from around the country and the globe who come to experience outdoor recreation on our public lands. A large portion of our visitors utilize the many guiding and outfitting businesses based in Moab, one of which I owned and operated for 34 years. These visitors are the backbone of our economy and have allowed our small rural community to prosper.
The quality of life available in Moab attracts both visitors and professionals of all types.
Moab’s first national recognition came as a uranium mining hub during the 40s through the 70s, and we know well the boom and bust cycles of mineral extraction. Moab currently has oil and gas development nearby and the royalties from our wells have paid for necessary services such as helping to fund our local nursing home and our community pool, among other amenities. But the key to our future prosperity and our role as a flagship tourism driver for the state of Utah is balancing oil and gas development with our other priorities through smart planning.
Over the years, we have worked with the Bureau of Land Management to determine where leases made sense for our community and where they did not. Our local government and business community successfully said no to leases atop Moab’s Glen Canyon Aquifer, where our pristine water comes from, and also the location of the famous Slickrock Trail, which is popular with mountain bikers and OHVs. This proposed lease was also near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and the viewsheds that our visitors travel worldwide to see.
Under the current system, the BLM has authorized new oil and gas leases near known productive wells and prioritized directional drilling from existing well pads where possible. In this way, we are allowing oil and gas development where it is most likely to be economically viable and discouraging development where profitable wells are unlikely — and where damage to our recreation assets is likely.
A recent bill introduced by Montana Sen. Steve Daines would indiscriminately offer the vast majority of public lands up for leasing and flies in the face of the cooperative work our community has done in the past to optimize our public land use. If enacted, this bill could require the leasing of the Slickrock Trail multiple times every year.
In our area, undeveloped leases count for tens of thousands of acres. If our visitors knew that the beautiful lands on which they recreate were leased for oil and gas, I believe they would be appalled. Lands in this state of purgatory discourages recreation investments while providing nothing in terms of jobs or royalties to our local community. This kind of indiscriminate leasing of marginal parcels leaves communities with lands that are rarely developed but are tied up for decades.
Sen. Daines’ bill is tone deaf to the reality that many communities like ours need to utilize their public lands for multiple uses. Forcing the BLM to auction marginal parcels that have limited development potential uses valuable BLM management time that could be used for more recreation projects like trails and campgrounds, as well as permits to drill on existing and much more promising leases. Plus, taking away valuable management time from our local BLM office can contribute to unchecked leaks of methane and other pollutants that have the potential to further damage Moab’s timeless economic driver: outdoor recreation. I don’t know anybody who wants to recreate in a landscape with bad air.
Current BLM oil and gas regulations were created to support multi-use public land communities, but they are threatened by Sen. Daines’ bill. Those regulations protect the recreation assets that drive outdoor economies, like those in both Utah and Montana, by discouraging leases where there will be obvious conflicts. It is imperative that they stay in place.
There is a clear opportunity to do oil and gas the right way on our public lands. By focusing on smart leasing targeted towards economically viable parcels, our public land communities can optimize their public lands both now and in the future — without tying up thousands of acres in leases that have low development potential.
Our representatives need to hear from our public land users that turning back the clock on oil and gas leasing reforms is not a prudent approach to public land policy and for managing these lands in the best interests of the public. Consider calling or writing your representatives today.
(Kirstin Peterson) Kirstin Peterson lives in Moab. She previously owned a mountain bike touring company permitted on National Park and BLM lands for 33 years and currently manages a tent-only campground.
Kirstin Peterson lives in Moab. She previously owned a mountain bike touring company permitted on National Park and BLM lands for 33 years and currently manages a tent-only campground.
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