SALT LAKE CITY — A resolution will be introduced in the Utah State Legislature to allow the state to co-manage the "Mighty Five" national parks.
Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, told FOX 13 News he will introduce a bill that would seek to have the state enter into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Interior to help manage the parks, including addressing more than $400 million in deferred maintenance projects and staffing shortages.
"It could be decades, if ever, if the federal government sufficiently funds these fabulous resources," Rep. Eliason said in an interview.
Utah has five national parks — Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Zion. Rep. Eliason said in exchange, the state could keep some of the money the parks generate. He insisted the resolution would not open the parks up for development.
"The federal government would maintain ownership of the land. It would be a joint maintenance agreement," Rep. Eliason said. "No, we're not looking to do anything like that. It's just to fix the bridges, fix the trails, work on the campgrounds, the water systems, all those types of systems that are way past due."
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The resolution, if passed, would go to Congress. It could also be expanded to allow the state to co-manage U.S. Forest Service land within the state. Lawmakers are counting on the Trump administration to green light the idea. In an interview with FOX 13 News, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, acknowledged it is part of his broader push to have Utah manage more of the federal lands in the state.
"We can do it better here locally than the federal government can 2,000 miles away," Speaker Schultz said. "It makes sense to let Utah manage these assets because we care about them more than anybody else."
Utah had a separate petition before the U.S. Supreme Court staking claim to millions of acres of public lands. The nation's top court declined to hear it, but state leaders are expected to continue to pursue that in lower courts.
But one environmental group said Utah's efforts would be best used to call on Congress to ensure the national parks are funded and fully staffed.
"A resolution calling on Utah’s powerful members of Congress to fund the national park service, lift the hiring freeze on seasonal employees and renew funding for the deferred maintenance backlog would ensure our national parks in Utah are ready to welcome over 15 million visitors from around the world this year and into the future," Cory MacNulty, with the National Parks Conservation Association, said in an email to FOX 13 News.
"The state can help the national parks by calling on the Congressional delegation to ensure parks are managed to their gold standard, as visitors expect. A short-term patchwork management scheme that would siphon money away from the national parks doesn’t help the parks, the visitors or Utah."
The national parks are a massive part of Utah's $12 billion tourism economy, drawing in visitors from all over the world. At an event on Friday, tech company CEOs even touted outdoor recreation opportunities as a driver for people to relocate to Utah.
"It contributes about $3 billion to the state’s economy annually," said Celina Sinclair, the director of the Utah Tourism Industry Association. "It plays a huge factor to the state’s generation of revenue."
Breck Dockstader, who manages a series of hotels around national parks in southwestern Utah, said he could see the appeal of the resolution. He said the economic impact of national park visitation extends beyond Springdale or Moab.
"It affects the entire state tourism economy. The national parks are anchor tenants," he said. "So if we don’t take care of those anchor tenants and keep them alive and well...but also market them in a really effective way? It ripples through the entire economy."
