Governor Huntsman & The Nature Conservancy Announce Landmark Conservation Effort

Partnership Effort is the Largest Conservation Initiative in Utah History

Salt Lake City, Utah — July 18, 2006 — Today, at a meeting of The Rotary Club of Salt Lake City, Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. and The Nature Conservancy announced the launch of The Living Lands & Waters Campaign — the largest conservation effort in Utah’s history. Over the next four years, the Conservancy’s statewide effort will raise $43 million in public and private funds for conservation projects to save Utah’s most at-risk lands and waters. To date, the Conservancy has raised $24.9 million in public and private funds, leaving $18.1 million still to raise by July 2009.

“We’re thrilled to have Governor Huntsman help us launch this effort because I think his presence reminds all of us that at its core, this conservation campaign is really about helping people, said Livermore. “Our lands and waters are not only critical to our quality of life, and our health, but they are also the backbone of our agriculture, tourism and recreation industries.”

The Conservancy’s Living Lands & Waters Campaign is an ambitious vision. Based on years of scientific analysis, the campaign will implement a suite of conservation projects in Utah’s most important and at-risk areas – protecting lands, watersheds and species in eight massive priority regions throughout the state.

“This campaign is unique for two main reasons,” said Dave Livermore, the Conservancy’s Utah State Director. “First, after an intensive statewide study we have identified Utah’s most ecologically significant lands and waters—and developed an innovative plan to protect them. Second, with Utah’s tremendous growth, we have reached a new level of urgency. The Conservancy believes we must act quickly and decisively to save Utah’s natural heritage.”

A new report released this week from the Oquirrh Institute reveals disturbing trends for Utah’s lands and waters, including:

Utah loses more than 15,000 acres of agricultural land and open space to development each year.
Utah ranks fifth in the nation for the highest number of species at risk of extinction. (Source: NatureServe)
If current trends continue, 308 square miles—an area the size of New York City—will be developed along the Wasatch Front by 2030.

“There is no question that Utah is changing more quickly than any of us could have even dreamed possible thirty years ago,” said Norma Matheson, Former First Lady and Co-Chair of the Living Lands & Waters Campaign. “We still have a chance, right now, to ensure that Utah remains one of the best places to live in the United States. If we destroy our open spaces, family farms and watersheds, we will have failed ourselves and Utah’s future generations.”

To coincide with the launch of the Living Lands & Waters Campaign, the Conservancy is announcing the purchase of a conservation easement on the 6,700-acre Selman Ranch near Logan. Nestled in the Little Bear drainage, this ranch harbors breeding ground for the Columbian sharp-tailed grouse—a bird that has already lost more than 96 percent of its historic habitat in Utah and is in danger of being federally listed as an endangered species.

“My grandfather’s purchase of this land marked the beginning of a family tradition—not just of living off the landscape—but of nurturing it and enhancing its value for native animals,” said rancher Bret Selman. “We are excited about working with the Conservancy on this easement because we feel like somewhere, sometime, someone needs to save a place for Utah’s wildlife.”

The terms of the agreement will allow the Selmans, third-generation sheep and cattle ranchers, to keep working the land and passing on their careful tradition of stewardship to future generations. The Conservancy will also work with the Selmans and other partners, including the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and the Utah Department of Agriculture to develop a long-term management plan that will address habitat improvements, invasive species and sustainable logging on the ranch.

“Saving places like Selman Ranch is becoming increasingly difficult in burgeoning Cache County,” said Joan Degiorgio, the Conservancy’s Northern Mountains Regional Director. “As the City of Logan grows, its impacts on traditional agricultural lands and open spaces are real. Residential developments and ski lifts have recently been proposed for the undeveloped South Fork of the Little Bear River drainage—just 5 miles from Selman Ranch.”

The Selman Ranch is just one example of the tangible, on-the-ground results that are possible through the Living Lands & Waters Campaign. Thanks to support from private contributors, the LeRay McAllister Fund, DWR and the federal Landowner Incentive Program, the Conservancy has already raised $1, 480,000 for this easement, but still has $2,295,000 left to raise.

“The protection of Selman Ranch is a major conservation success story and a perfect example of the importance of the Living Lands & Waters Campaign,” said Livermore. “Over the next four years, we will work to save more places like Selman Ranch—areas that harbor critical wildlife habitat and are important to local communities, and places that are under increasing pressure from human impacts.”

A few other key projects of the Living Lands & Waters Campaign include:

Virgin River Headwaters: a conservation collaboration among 17 ranchers on 11,000 acres near Zion National Park, supporting critical habitat and a key watershed.
Boulder Creek Canyon Ranch: the protection of prime ranchland in the heart of Boulder, creating a wildlife corridor between natural protected areas.
Great Salt Lake: the Wings & Water Wetlands Education Program offers 4th grade students and teachers a new way to use the Great Salt Lake as an unforgettable outdoor classroom.
White Dome: a new 800-acre preserve in Washington County will create a community resource and save some of the world’s last remaining populations of endangered wildflowers.

“The Living Lands & Waters Campaign marks a new era for conservation in Utah,” said Former US Senator Jake Garn. “Just as our ancestors had the foresight to plan our cities, protect key watersheds and carefully steward Utah’s natural resources, we must have the wisdom to do the same. Living Lands & Waters will make a tremendous contribution to the future of our state.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.