With the enactment of the Wilderness Act of 1964, the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) was created "to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness ... untrammeled by man, where man is a visitor who does not remain."

However, one stipulation that led to the passage of the act was that the 300 million acres under Bureau of Land Management (BLM) control would not be considered for preservation any time soon. It was a critical clause.

The BLM is sometimes called the "Bureau of Livestock and Mining." It's a title it often deserves. The agency was created from the marriage of the General Land Office and the Grazing Service, and it wasn't until 1976 that the agency had to consider land as potential wilderness, not only as a means to commercial gain. That was the year that the BLM was ordered to assess its holdings to determine which lands were eligible for the NWPS.

The agency was slow to oblige. By the mid '90s, only California and Arizona had designated BLM wilderness. Most lands were still being used for industrial extraction, and few sections were even labeled Wilderness Study Areas (lands being considered for preservation, but not yet deemed suitable).

The process has been especially slow in Utah. Of 22 million acres under BLM control, only 2.5 million were recommended by the agency for wilderness designation. And although the BLM slightly increased their findings in the face of public outrage, the agency still seems to be more interested in profits than protection.

In fact, a January report from the Department of the Interior to the Utah BLM said Utah staff need to understand that oil and gas drilling is "their No. 1 priority."

More drilling permits were approved by the BLM in 2001 than any previous year. And when permit violations were discovered by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance earlier this year (a truck exploring for oil had left 15-inch deep ruts in the fragile cryptobiotic soil, in excess of a four-inch rut maximum), BLM officials sped to the site to cover the ruts before reporters arrived.

And there's more to cover up. The BLM is supposed to preserve Wilderness Study Areas until Congress deems them wilderness-worthy or not. If the lands are not protected, they suffer degradation and are no longer eligible for wilderness designation. A study by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Government, found that Utah's BLM was not enforcing ORV regulations, and erosion was accelerating in many areas. This was making the lands ineligible for wilderness designation and open for further drilling and development.

Until public lands such as the Redrock Wilderness are specifically designated as wilderness areas, the BLM will allow desecration and destruction to continue.

More about Redrock
The Colorado Plateau and Utah's Basin and Range
Citizens take over where BLM fails
What is a Wilderness?