Lost and found study
Under former Utah Gov. Norm Bangerter, the
bumper sticker “Wilderness: land of no use” became popular. At the
same time, managers under Bangerter ignored a 1991 draft state
study that said wilderness could actually benefit Utah’s economy.
Gov. Mike Leavitt recently unearthed the report after the Southern
Utah Wilderness Alliance pressed the state attorney general to
investigate its disappearance. State planning official Brad Barber
says the report was never released because it was incomplete and
simplistic, and that other projects took precedence since the study
“was no longer relevant,” reports The Salt Lake Tribune. Southern
Utah Wilderness Alliance staffer Ken Rait says that the study
continues to be significant because it refutes doom-and-gloom
beliefs that creating more wilderness means Utah counties lose
money (HCN, 5/7/90). The 1991 study by the Utah Office of Planning
and Budget listed three possible scenarios for increased
wilderness, the most favorable of which would bring Utah 600 new
jobs and raise up to $15 million annually. To receive the 1991
report, Economic Analysis of Wilderness Designation in Utah, write
the Utah Office of Planning and Budget, Demographic and Economic
Analysis, 116 State Capitol, Salt Lake City, UT
84114.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Lost and found study.
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