The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. There are no rivers in Utah that have been designated by Congress into the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System. However, Section 5(d)(1) of the Act directs all federal agencies to consider the potential for national wild, scenic and recreational river areas in all planning for the use and development of water and related land resources. BLM thus conducts wild and scenic river reviews during land use planning.
BLM Manual 8351 identifies the general process followed by BLM for making eligibility, suitability, and tentative classifications for potentially eligible rivers identified during planning.
The document "Wild and Scenic River Review in the State of Utah, Process and Criteria for Interagency Use" provides additional guidance followed by the federal land management agencies (National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and BLM) in Utah.
There are 5 existing BLM resource management plans (RMPs) in Utah where wild and scenic river considerations have been made. Diamond Mountain, San Juan, San Rafael, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM), and Dixie RMPs all include wild and scenic river findings of eligibility and tentative classification. Three of these RMPs (Diamond Mountain, GSENM, and Dixie) also include suitability findings.
Wild and Scenic considerations are currently being made in 6 ongoing planning efforts (Vernal RMP, Price RMP, Richfield RMP, Moab RMP , Monticello RMP, and Kanab RMP).
Contact: Maggie_Kelsey@blm.gov
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Introduction