BLM UTAH WILDERNESS STUDY AREAS
As of 2013, Utah BLM administers 86 Wilderness Study Areas encompassing over 3.2 million acres. On October 18, 1991, Utah submitted a report to Congress recommending which Wilderness Study Areas should be designated as Wilderness and which should be released for other purposes. Congress has received BLM's wilderness recommendation from the Secretary of the Interior and the President. In the legislative phase of the wilderness review, there is no deadline or timetable for Congress to act; only Congress can designate areas as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Featured Wilderness Study Area: Deep Creek Mountains Wilderness Study Area
Flanked on the east by the Great Salt Lake Desert and on the west by the Deep Creek Valley, this 32-mile long, 3- to 15-mile wide range is located in west central Utah, adjacent to the Utah-Nevada state line and approximately 55 miles south of Wendover, Utah. The Deep Creek Mountains are the highest landmark in all of western Utah. As an isolated “island” ecosystem and the fourth-highest range in the Great Basin, the “Deeps” dominate the Great Salt Lake Desert in altitude, sheer mass, and biotic richness. From a barren landscape of alluvial outwash and playa basins, two 12,000-foot peaks rise 7,800 feet above the shimmering desert to form alpine meadows, evergreen and aspen forests, nine perennial streams and numerous canyons that twist through massive granite formations or quartzite cliffs.
BLM Utah Wilderness Study Areas
A complete list of the BLM Utah wilderness study areas is below:
- Behind the Rocks
- Black Ridge Canyon West
- Book Cliffs Mountain Browse
- Bridger Jack Mesa
- Bull Canyon
- Bull Mountain
- Burning Hills
- Butler Wash
- Canaan Mountain
- Carcass Canyon
- Cheesebox Canyon
- Coal Canyon
- Conger Mountain
- Crack Canyon
- Cross Canyon
- Daniels Canyon
- Dark Canyon
- Death Ridge
- Deep Creek Mountains
- Desolation Canyon
- Devils Canyon
- Devil's Garden
- Diamond Breaks
- Dirty Devel
- Escalante Canyon Tract 1
- Escalante Canyons Tract 5
- Fiddler Butte
- Fifty Mile Mountain
- Fish Creek Canyon
- Fish Springs
- Floy Canyon
- Flume Canyon
- Fremont Gorge
- French Spring-Happy Canyon
- Grand Gulch
- Horseshoe Canyon (North)
- Horseshoe Canyon (South)
- Howell Peak
- Indian Creek
- Jack Canyon
- King Top
- Link Flats
- Little Rockies
- Lost Spring Canyon
- Mancos Mesa
- Mexican Mountain
- Mill Creek Canyon
- Moquith Mountain
- Mt. Ellen-Blue Hills
- Mt. Hillers
- Mt. Pennell
- Mud Spring Canyon
- Muddy Creek
- Mule Canyon
- Negro Bill Canyon
- North Escalante Canyons/The Gulch
- North Fork Virgin River
- North Stansbury Mountains
- Notch Peak
- Orderville Canyon
- Paria Hackberry
- Paria Hackberry 202
- Parunuweap Canyon
- Phipps-Death Hollow
- Road Canyon
- Rockwell
- San Rafael Reef
- Scorpion
- Scott's Basin
- Sids Cabin 202
- Sids Mountain
- South Needles
- Spring Creek Canyon
- Spruce Canyon
- Squaw/Papoose Canyon
- Steep Creek
- Swasey Mountain
- The Blues
- The Cockscomb
- Turtle Canyon
- Wah Wah Mountains
- Wahweap
- West Cold Spring
- Westwater Canyon
- White Rock Range
- Winter Ridge