Lawmakers again seek to make state park at Little Sahara

Utah House members voted Friday to explore creating a state park at the popular Little Sahara sand dunes — which is on federal land now overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

HB95, which passed on a 69-1 vote and now goes to the Senate, would also create Utah's first wilderness area on state-managed lands.

That would be on 9,000 acres out of the nearly 56,000 acres at Little Sahara. It would be named in honor of the late U.S. Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah, who died in an ATV accident at the sand dunes.

A similar bill cleared the House in 2016 but did not reach a full-Senate vote.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, said that would help show that Utah will protect pristine lands it manages at a time when outdoor retailers are considering moving their twice-annual shows out of the state to protest what it says are state moves to develop or privatize public lands.

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/news/4928294-155/lawmakers-again-seek-to-make-state