The newsest "Wilderness" trick SUWA is using, is to try and argue that an area has Wilderness Characteristics (WC). I do not have the exact definition of what a WC is, but here is an explanation.
O1.1 THE 1999 UTAH WILDERNESS INVENTORY
Subsequent to the establishment of the Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), there has been considerable debate as to whether additional lands qualify, and should be considered, for congressional wilderness designation. Charges that the Utah BLM improperly omitted qualifying areas in the inventory lead to hearings before Congress and the most intractable controversy over any resource inventory since the passage of FLPMA.
As a result of the debate (and a significant passage of time since the BLM's original inventories), in 1996 the Department of the Interior (DOI) directed the BLM to take another look at some of the lands in question. In response to the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, the BLM inventoried approximately 3,105,300 acres of BLM-managed lands that were then proposed for wilderness designation in H.R. 1500. As a result of the inventory, the BLM determined that approximately 2,712,100 of these acres have wilderness characteristics as prescribed in the Wilderness Act, and 393,200 acres do not have wilderness characteristics. Approximately 490,744 of the acres determined to have wilderness characteristics and approximately 80,731 of the acres determined to not have wilderness characteristics are public lands managed by the Monticello Field Office (1999 Utah Wilderness Inventory and revisions). Refer to Table O.1 for a list of areas and acres involved.
O1.2 GUIDANCE SUBSEQUENT TO THE 1999 UTAH WILDERNESS INVENTORY
The BLM's manual for wilderness inventory, "Wilderness Inventory and Study Procedures Handbook" (H-1630-1), was rescinded on September 29, 2003 by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Instruction Memorandum 2003-274, "BLM Implementation of the Settlement of Utah v. Norton Regarding Wilderness Study." On October 23, 2003 Instruction Memorandum 2003-275, Change 1, "Consideration of Wilderness Characteristics in Land-use Plans," was issued and became the sole written guidance for the consideration of non-WSA lands with wilderness characteristics in the land-use planning process until the revised land-use Planning Handbook was published in 2005. Instruction Memorandum 2003-275, Change 1 states that "the BLM may consider information on wilderness characteristics, along with information on other uses and values, when preparing land-use plans."
The guidance also states that the consideration of non-WSA lands with wilderness characteristics in the land-use planning process has the potential for three distinct outcomes:
1) to give priority to other uses over the protection of wilderness characteristics;
2) to give priority to other uses, but applying management restrictions to protect some or all of the wilderness characteristics; or
3) to give priority to the protection of wilderness characteristics.
Proposed Plan/Final EIS Appendix O Identification of Wilderness Characteristics on Non-WSA Lands Managed by Monticello BLM
The current BLM land-use Planning Handbook (H-1601-1, 2005) states that land-use plans must:
Identify decisions to protect or preserve wilderness characteristics (naturalness, outstanding opportunities for solitude, and outstanding opportunities for primitive and unconfined recreation). Include goals and objectives to protect the resource and management actions necessary to achieve these goals and objectives. For authorized activities, include conditions of use that would avoid or minimize impacts to wilderness characteristics.
The land-use Planning Handbook also authorizes the BLM to consider wilderness proposals from the public during the land-use planning process.
If this comes up and people do not get out to dispute it, they will win. If you recall the letter from SUWA at the beginning of this post, they specifically talk about areas with Wilderness Characteristics. They are using this claim to paint a broad brush.
