Hon. Gale Norton
Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Secretary Norton:

I am writing to voice my objection to your agreement announced on April 9, 2003 with Utah Governor, Mike Leavitt to allow the state of Utah to claim rights-of-way to routes under the Disclaimer Interest Rule.

This agreement is wrong because it will allow the state of Utah and its counties to assert claims to so called roads across pristine wilderness where no road actually exists. I have hiked extensively in Utah including in the Grand Staircase Area and many of the so called roads are nothing more than animal trails and places where locals in trucks have illegally driven over fragile desert ecosystems creating ugly scars in previously unadulterated areas. The agreement provides no real protection for National Parks, Wilderness Areas, or Wildlife Refuges since the state of Utah and its counties will now be free to send reckless off highway vehicle drivers to pursue these bogus claims in federal court. It also does not provide for public involvement until after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has made damaging decisions to turn routes on public lands, my land, over to the state. It provides for no review of potential environmental impact on these wholesale giveaways. In essence it allows the state of Utah to claim what are basically paths and foot trails and turn them into highways. Your agreement invites other states to do likewise. The crux of my disagreement with your decision is that it leaves beautiful, precious wilderness in Utah vulnerable to destruction.

I also strenuously object to your agreement to withdraw all wilderness study areas (WSA). WSAs were one of the few ways to keep illegal OHV drivers off of critical wilderness areas. Aren’t you required to keep WSA inventories updated pursuant to the Federal Land Policies and Management Act (FLPMA) section 201? Also I do not agree with your decision to stop the BLM from all wilderness reviews unless there is support from local officials. As the Secretary of the Interior it is your job to preserve and protect our public lands. Why are you abdicating your duties? Don’t you care at all about preserving the natural world if not for yourself for your children and their children?

Sincerely,

Michelle Brodie