The Biden administration this week proposed a management plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah that prioritizes conservation and preservation seven years after former President Donald Trump shrunk the site to spur energy development.
The plan, outlined in a final environmental impact statement published in Friday’s Federal Register, also emphasizes protecting Native American “tribal interests” and fostering “tribal involvement in the land use planning process” at the southwest Utah national monument overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
The preferred alternative in the final EIS would, among other things, break the national monument into four “management zones”: the front country zone, passage zone, outback zone and primitive zone.
The front country zone would allow for visitors centers and developed campgrounds, while the passage zone would allow “basic infrastructure,” including “picnic sites, small campgrounds and designated camping areas, toilets, interpretive sites, waysides and overlooks.”
