Grassroots of the Desert: An Analysis of the Roles of the Utah Wilderness Association and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance in the Debate over Wilderness Designation of Bureau of Land Management Lands in Southern Utah

The battle over federal Wilderness designation of Bureau of Land Management lands in southern Utah has entered its third decade. Throughout this lengthy debate numerous stakeholders have maintained involvement, including members of Utah\u27s conservation community. Two of the most prominent wilderness advocacy groups in Utah are notable not only for their sustained involvement with the issue, but also for their divergent positions on how to resolve this public land dispute. This research examines those two organizations, the Utah Wilderness Association and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, through an analysis of their respective structural, organizational, philosophical, and tactical perspectives. Ultimately, the background of each organization\u27s leadership, their organizational structures, their ability to mobilize resources, and their distinctive wilderness philosophies offer an understanding of how each organization perceived its mission and its ability to provide a construct for resolution of the Utah Wilderness debate