Utah
Over 18K acres of ‘important’ Utah forest preserved through US program
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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah land managers say they are thrilled that more than 18,000 acres of private forest land were recently selected by the U.S. Forest Service to be preserved forever.
The U.S. Forest Service included the 15,623-acre Coldwater and 2,725-acre Bear River Mountains Connectivity (Goring Forest) projects as a part of its 2023 Forest Legacy Program projects announced in late June. The federal agency is sending Utah about $14.4 million to acquire and protect the two project areas, which are located in Box Elder and Rich counties, respectively.
The federal funding, coming from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, allows for conservation easements that protect the forests as natural spaces. Both sites were considered “highly developable” and that could have led to impacts on downstream water users and wildlife habitat, said Natalie Conlin, the Forest Legacy Program coordinator for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
Division officials say the Coldwater project offers “a rare opportunity for landscape-level conservation,” tying together existing Forest Legacy projects, national forest lands and a state wildlife management area with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bear River Watershed Conservation Area. It’s considered a “crucial habitat” for bald eagles and elk in Utah.
An easement will help also sustain local timber jobs and protect the watershed, the agency adds.
The Goring Forest project, on the other hand, protects “crucial” moose, elk and deer habitat within the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest’s “critical interstate wildlife corridor,” according to division officials.
“The funding of these projects is an important step in protecting forest resources for the benefit of the public,” Conlin said in a statement Wednesday.
The Forest Legacy Program dates back to 1990, leading to easements for more than 3 million acres of forests across the country. The pair of Utah projects are two of 34 projects in 22 states that the Forest Service funded this year. All of the projects cover more than 245,000 acres nationwide, totaling $188 million.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack explained that all of the forests included in the round of funding are considered “vital” to their local communities and are “critical to the health of our planet,” too.
“As private forest landowners continue to face pressures to convert forests, the Forest Legacy Program keeps working forests working,” he said last month.