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With the U.S. Supreme Court's new term set to begin, some Western states are hoping the justices will continue to overturn long-established legal precedents. Utah hopes the court will take up its lawsuit testing a fringe theory. It wants federal public land to be controlled by states. Conservationists worry the land would end up in the hands of private developers. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Who gets to do what on federal land is an ages-old battle in the West, especially Utah, where almost three-quarters of the state is owned by Uncle Sam. People from the world over flock to public lands here - the jaw-dropping Red Rock Canyons, the Arches and ancient petroglyphs. Thrill-seekers love the mountain biking and off-roading over petrified dunes and ancient sea beds.
WILL BURGER: It's all amazing.
ISAAC HAMLEN: It's really cool.
SIEGLER: Will Burger and Isaac Hamlen just rode the famous Slickrock Trail in Moab. It's the West's self-described outdoor adventure capital.
HAMLEN: And I'm from Minnesota. This is my first time out West, so all of this stuff is new to me.
SIEGLER: Utah is home to five national parks and nine national monuments, including those controversially established by Presidents Clinton and Obama, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
BURGER: We learned about all that stuff our first semester of college, and it really drove home the importance of public land and the importance of our green spaces, even if they aren't, quote-unquote, "green" - maybe a little red and orange here.
SIEGLER: But the recent monument designations and road closures to protect the environment have fueled resentment that's been smoldering in Utah since the Mormon pioneers arrived.
CASEY SNIDER: I am someone who loves public lands.
SIEGLER: Republican state Representative Casey Snider, a hunter, proudly displays a bronze of Teddy Roosevelt on his desk. He says, today's federal land managers are locking up all the land, limiting drilling or any type of development.
SNIDER: When you push the decision all the way from D.C., you tie our hands. You tie your own people's hands if you're a federal manager - and to the detriment of all parties involved. That is my No. 1 concern.
SIEGLER: Snider says local people living and working here should have the most say on what land to preserve or develop. In its latest legal attempt to wrest control of federal land, Utah's lawsuit before the Supreme Court seeks to transfer a limited amount - about 18 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land - not the parks or forests and ski resorts.
(SOUNDBITE OF DIRT BIKE RUMBLING)
SIEGLER: A dirt bike whizzes past a new luxury development on old state land tucked into a rocky hillside in Moab, near where Ashley Korenblat owns Western Spirit Cycling. She makes her living guiding bike tours on federal land.
ASHLEY KORENBLAT: We can see - just over that ridge is the Slickrock Trail, and that's...
SIEGLER: The Slickrock is just one of scores of pieces of public land that could get transferred over to Utah to manage if the Supreme Court takes this case and Utah wins. And Korenblat worries the state can't afford to protect these prized places.
KORENBLAT: And the state can't run a deficit. So times get tough - they're going to sell off these lands.
SIEGLER: To private developers, she says - Korenblat, who's running for county commission here, sees this lawsuit as election-year red meat for the Republican base.
KORENBLAT: You really need to think through what you're asking for. And I understand you want to honor your ancestors, and your grandfather told you that this - that you should hate the federal land, but it's time to think about your children, not your grandfather.
SIEGLER: Outdoor recreation industries now pump billions into Western economies. These decades-old arguments over federal control of public land are widely considered long-settled case law. Still, nothing right now feels certain after the Supreme Court deferred to states' rights when it overturned Roe v. Wade.
UNIDENTIFIED GUIDE: Watch those hats - it could be a little windy out there. I got some blankets here if it gets to be a little cold.
SIEGLER: At High Point Hummer and ATVs, tourists are piling into a vintage military Humvee for a ride along clifftops above the Colorado River. General Manager Nick Oldham says he'd be open to giving Utah a try at managing some of the land. He's frustrated that trail access is eroding.
NICK OLDHAM: There's definitely a feeling of, you know, our backyard's controlled by somebody in Washington, D.C., as opposed to somebody more local.
SIEGLER: But right now, Oldham is mostly worried about all the highly publicized fights over federal public land around here starting to drive tourists away.
Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Moab, Utah.
(SOUNDBITE OF KEHLANI SONG, "BETTER NOT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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