Public Lands Duty of Care Amendments

19
63G-16-101
63L-11-101
63L-11-302
63L-11-501
63L-11-502
63L-11-503
63G-16-101
63L-11-101
63L-11-302
63L-11-501
63L-11-502
63L-11-503
4
Public Lands Duty of Care Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Ken Ivory
Senate Sponsor: Keven J. Stratton
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill addresses the jurisdictional management of public lands.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
defines terms;
asserts the state's jurisdictional interest in land controlled by the federal government under
a proprietary interest;
directs the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office (office) to promote the state's
jurisdictional interests on landscape-scale public lands;
requires the office to:
identify and map landscape-scale lands in the state;
establish map layers for certain criteria on landscape-scale lands;
map a landscape public nuisance area on landscape-scale lands containing forested
areas; and
report annually on the map to the Federalism Commission and Natural Resources,
Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee;
requires the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands to assist the office in identifying a
landscape public nuisance area for landscape-scale lands containing forested areas; and
makes technical and conforming changes.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
63G-16-101
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2025, Chapter 401
63L-11-302
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2024, Chapters 84, 184
ENACTS:
63L-11-501
, Utah Code Annotated 1953
63L-11-502
, Utah Code Annotated 1953
63L-11-503
, Utah Code Annotated 1953
REPEALS:
63L-11-101
, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2021, Chapter 382
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
63G-16-101
is amended to read:
63G-16-101
. Principles of state sovereignty -- Presumption of state subject
matter jurisdiction -- Resolution of jurisdictional conflicts.
(1)
As used in this section:
(a)
"Commission" means the Federalism Commission created in Section
63C-4a-302
.
(b)
"Federal proprietary interest lands" means federally controlled lands in which the
federal government holds only a proprietary interest:
(i)
as an ordinary landowner with no governing or legislative jurisdiction; and
(ii)
as described in:
(A)
the Report to the Interdepartmental Committee for the Study of Jurisdiction
Over Federal Areas within the States, Parts 1 and 2, published in April 1956;
and
(B)
the Inventory Report on Jurisdictional Status of Federal Areas within States,
prepared by the General Services Administration in June 1962.
(c)
"Legislative jurisdiction" means the authority of a government to create, enforce, and
carry out laws within a jurisdiction.
(b)
(d)
"State entity" means:
(i)
any department, agency, board, commission, or other instrumentality of the state;
or
(ii)
a political subdivision of the state.
(2)
Pursuant to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, Utah
solemnly affirms the state's sovereignty and fully and unconditionally reserves and
asserts all rights and powers, directly and indirectly related to those rights and powers.
(3)
The affirmation, reservation, and assertion of state sovereignty under Subsection
(2)

includes rights and claims of set-off by the state for any amounts the state claims to have
been inequitably or unlawfully caused or imposed by the federal government.
(4)
The federal government is a government of limited jurisdiction and power.
(5)
(a)
The state has general governing authority under the state's inherent police power
jurisdiction over all governing matters within the state affecting public welfare,
safety, health, and morality, as recognized under the Tenth Amendment to the United
States Constitution.
(b)
The state affirms that the state has never ceded legislative jurisdiction over federal
proprietary interest lands, which account for approximately 35 million acres in Utah,
or 96% of federally controlled lands in the state.
(b)
(c)
The subject areas within the state's police powers jurisdiction
under Subsection
(5)(a)
over federal proprietary interest lands
include, without limitation:
(i)
natural resources;
(ii)
water resources and water rights;
(iii)
agriculture;
(iv)
health, safety, and welfare;
(v)
land health, access, and productivity;
(vi)
zoning and planning;
(vii)
enforcement of state law;
(iv)
(viii)
education; and
(v)
(ix)
energy resources.
(d)
In asserting the state's inherent police power, a state entity shall:
(i)
identify federally controlled lands that are federal proprietary interest lands; and
(ii)
presume that all federally controlled lands are federal proprietary interest lands
unless the federal government can demonstrate, through specific constitutional
enumeration or cession of legislative jurisdiction by the state, that the federal
government has constitutional or legislative jurisdiction over the lands.
(6)
The federalism canon, as prescribed by the United States Supreme Court, requires
courts to presume that federal law does not preempt state law because of the sovereignty
the states enjoy under the United States Constitution, as amended.
(7)
The balance of governing jurisdiction and power protects the diversity of the states and
ensures the self-governing voice of the people.
(8)
(a)
Jurisdiction over all governing subject matters arising within the state is presumed
to reside with the state except as otherwise enumerated in the United States
Constitution, as amended.
(b)
The presumption of state jurisdiction under this Subsection
(8)
may only be
overcome if the federal government demonstrates that jurisdiction over the subject
matter in question is specifically enumerated to the federal government under the
United States Constitution, as amended.
(c)
If a conflict arises whereby the federal government asserts jurisdiction over subject
matters not enumerated under the United States Constitution, as amended, the federal
government bears the burden of establishing federal jurisdiction over the subject
matter through coordination with the state.
Section 2. Section
63L-11-302
is amended to read:
63L-11-302
. Principles to be recognized and promoted.
The office shall recognize and promote the following principles when preparing any
policies, plans, programs, processes, or desired outcomes relating to federal lands and natural
resources on federal lands under Section
63L-11-301
:
(1)
(a)
the citizens of the state are best served by applying multiple-use and
sustained-yield principles in public land use planning and management; and
(b)
multiple-use and sustained-yield management means that federal agencies should
develop and implement management plans and make other resource-use decisions
that:
(i)
achieve and maintain in perpetuity a high-level annual or regular periodic output
of mineral and various renewable resources from public lands;
(ii)
support valid existing transportation, mineral, and grazing privileges at the
highest reasonably sustainable levels;
(iii)
support the specific plans, programs, processes, and policies of state agencies
and local governments;
(iv)
are designed to produce and provide the desired vegetation for the watersheds,
timber, food, fiber, livestock forage, wildlife forage, and minerals that are
necessary to meet present needs and future economic growth and community
expansion without permanent impairment of the productivity of the land;
(v)
meet the recreational needs and the personal and business-related transportation
needs of the citizens of the state by providing access throughout the state;
(vi)
meet the recreational needs of the citizens of the state;
(vii)
meet the needs of wildlife;
(viii)
provide for the preservation of cultural resources, both historical and
archaeological;
(ix)
meet the needs of economic development;
(x)
meet the needs of community development; and
(xi)
provide for the protection of water rights;
(2)
managing public lands for wilderness characteristics circumvents the statutory
wilderness process and is inconsistent with the multiple-use and sustained-yield
management standard that applies to all Bureau of Land Management and United States.
Forest Service lands that are not wilderness areas or wilderness study areas;
(3)
all waters of the state are:
(a)
owned exclusively by the state in trust for the state's citizens;
(b)
are subject to appropriation for beneficial use; and
(c)
are essential to the future prosperity of the state and the quality of life within the state;
(4)
the state has the right to develop and use the state's entitlement to interstate rivers;
(5)
all water rights desired by the federal government must be obtained through the state
water appropriation system;
(6)
land management and resource-use decisions which affect federal lands should give
priority to and support the purposes of the compact between the state and the United
States related to school and institutional trust lands;
(7)
development of the solid, fluid, and gaseous mineral resources of the state is an
important part of the economy of the state, and of local regions within the state;
(8)
the state should foster and support industries that take advantage of the state's
outstanding opportunities for outdoor recreation;
(9)
wildlife constitutes an important resource and provides recreational and economic
opportunities for the state's citizens;
(10)
proper stewardship of the land and natural resources is necessary to ensure the health
of the watersheds, timber, forage, and wildlife resources to provide for a continuous
supply of resources for the people of the state and the people of the local communities
who depend on these resources for a sustainable economy;
(11)
forests, rangelands, timber, and other vegetative resources:
(a)
provide forage for livestock;
(b)
provide forage and habitat for wildlife;
(c)
provide resources for the state's timber and logging industries;
(d)
contribute to the state's economic stability and growth; and
(e)
are important for a wide variety of recreational pursuits;
(12)
management programs and initiatives that improve watersheds and forests and increase
forage for the mutual benefit of wildlife species and livestock, logging, and other
agricultural industries by utilizing proven techniques and tools are vital to the state's
economy and the quality of life in the state;
(13)
(a)
land management plans, programs, and initiatives should provide that the amount
of domestic livestock forage, expressed in animal unit months, for permitted, active
use as well as the wildlife forage included in that amount, be no less than the
maximum number of animal unit months sustainable by range conditions in grazing
allotments and districts, based on an on-the-ground and scientific analysis;
(b)
the state opposes the relinquishment or retirement of grazing animal unit months in
favor of conservation, wildlife, and other uses;
(c)
the state supports the multiple-use, sustained-yield framework required by federal
law for management of public lands and opposes federal prioritization of
conservation as a use equal to other productive uses of public lands;
(d)
(i)
the state favors the best management practices that are jointly sponsored by
cattlemen, sportsmen, and wildlife management groups such as chaining, logging,
seeding, burning, and other direct soil and vegetation prescriptions that are
demonstrated to restore forest and rangeland health, increase forage, and improve
watersheds in grazing districts and allotments for the benefit of domestic livestock
and wildlife;
(ii)
when practices described in Subsection
(13)(d)(i)
increase a grazing allotment's
forage beyond the total permitted forage use that was allocated to that allotment in
the last federal land use plan or allotment management plan still in existence as of
January 1, 2005, a reasonable and fair portion of the increase in forage beyond the
previously allocated total permitted use should be allocated to wildlife as
recommended by a joint, evenly balanced committee of livestock and wildlife
representatives that is appointed and constituted by the governor for that purpose;
and
(iii)
the state favors quickly and effectively adjusting wildlife population goals and
population census numbers in response to variations in the amount of available
forage caused by drought or other climatic adjustments, and state agencies
responsible for managing wildlife population goals and population census
numbers will, when making those adjustments, give due regard to both the needs
of the livestock industry and the need to prevent the decline of species to a point
of listing under the terms of the Endangered Species Act;
(e)
the state opposes the transfer of grazing animal unit months to wildlife for supposed
reasons of rangeland health;
(f)
reductions in domestic livestock animal unit months must be temporary and
scientifically based upon rangeland conditions;
(g)
policies, plans, programs, initiatives, resource management plans, and forest plans
may not allow the placement of grazing animal unit months in a suspended use
category unless there is a rational and scientific determination that the condition of
the rangeland allotment or district in question will not sustain the animal unit months
sought to be placed in suspended use;
(h)
any grazing animal unit months that are placed in a suspended use category should
be returned to active use when range conditions improve;
(i)
policies, plans, programs, and initiatives related to vegetation management should
recognize and uphold the preference for domestic grazing over alternate forage uses
in established grazing districts while upholding management practices that optimize
and expand forage for grazing and wildlife in conjunction with state wildlife
management plans and programs in order to provide maximum available forage for
all uses; and
(j)
in established grazing districts, animal unit months that have been reduced due to
rangeland health concerns should be restored to livestock when rangeland conditions
improve, and should not be converted to wildlife use;
and
(14)
a grazing allotment on federal public lands is a valid existing right for purposes of
federal land withdrawals when the owner of the grazing allotment meets the
requirements described in Section
63L-8-404
.
; and
(15)
the state has a jurisdictional interest in the ability to maintain and manage
landscape-scale lands, as defined in Section
63L-11-501
, for the health, safety, and
well-being of the people of the state, including:
(a)
establishing land management responsibilities related to zoning and planning;
(b)
generating income from renewable and non-renewable resources to provide essential
government services;
(c)
protecting the health of the state's forested lands, watersheds, wildlife, and wildlife
habitat;
(d)
collecting adequate tax revenue to fund schools and public safety programs for local
governments; and
(e)
maintaining a road across public lands, in which the state or county has vested title,
to protect rural transportation, public safety, and emergency response.
Section 3. Section
63L-11-501
is enacted to read:
5. Access, Health, and Productivity of Landscape-scale Lands
63L-11-501
. Definitions.
As used in this part:
(1)
"Department" means the Department of Natural Resources created in Section
79-2-201
.
(2)
"Division" means the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands created in Section
65A-1-4
.
(3)
"Forested area" means an acre of land containing 50% or greater canopy cover from tree
species.
(4)
"Geographic Information System" or "GIS" means a computer driven data integration
and map production system that interrelates disparate layers of data to specific
geographic locations.
(5)
"High value mineral area" means an area within priority mineral lands that:
(a)
are close in proximity to mineral processing and transport infrastructure;
(b)
have minimal conflicts with other resources; and
(c)
have the highest potential for responsible mineral production consistent with multiple
use and sustained yield.
(6)
"Landscape access" means a point of access for ingress and egress by the public from
landscape-scale lands, including:
(a)
a road;
(b)
a trail; or
(c)
ano
ther
access point that is open to the public.
(7)
"Landscape health" means the ecological health of landscape-scale lands, including:
(a)
appropriate forest or foliage cover;
(b)
prevalence of invasive or disruptive species;
(c)
the ability of the lands to recover from disturbance or disaster; and
(d)
any other ecological health parameter identified in department rule made in
accordance with Title
63G, Chapter
3
, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
(8)
"Landscape productivity" means the total output or extraction of natural resources from
landscape-scale lands consistent with multiple use and sustained yield.
(9)
"Landscape-scale lands" means one or more contiguous tracts of land:
(a)
greater than or equal to 250,000 acres;
(b)
under common title, lease, or unified management; and
(c)
within the state.
(10)
"Multiple use" means the same as that term is defined in Section
63L-8-102
.
(11)
"Polygon" means a GIS-generated representation of a geographic area for spatial
analysis.
(12)
"Priority mineral lands" means landscape-scale lands containing deposits of:
(a)
a mineral identified in the most recent list of:
(i)
critical minerals published by the United States Geological Survey; or
(ii)
critical materials published by the United States Department of Energy;
(b)
a mineral, element, substance, or material designated as critical by the Secretary of
the Interior in accordance with 30 U.S.C. Sec. 1606; and
(c)
a mineral designated as critical, rare, strategic, or energy-rich by department rule
made in accordance with Title
63G, Chapter
3
, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
(13)
"Sustained yield" means the same as that term is defined in Section
63L-8-102
.
Section 4. Section
63L-11-502
is enacted to read:
63L-11-502
. Map of landscape-scale lands -- Map layers for access, health, and
productivity -- Report.
(1)
(a)
Before January 1, 2028, the office shall identify and digitally map landscape-scale
lands in the state.
(b)
The digital map described in Subsection
(1)(a)
shall include GIS data layers for:
(i)
landscape access;
(ii)
landscape public nuisance areas based on criteria described in Section
63L-11-503
;
(iii)
priority mineral lands; and
(iv)
high value mineral areas.
(2)
The office shall:
(a)
coordinate with public and private entities to develop the map described in
Subsection
(1)
; and
(b)
coordinate with the division to identify polygons for any landscape public nuisance
areas based on criteria described in Section
63L-11-503
.
(3)
(a)
No later than October 1 of each year, the office shall submit an annual report to
the Federalism Commission and the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and
Environment Interim Committee.
(b)
The report described in Subsection
(3)(a)
shall include:
(i)
updates to the digital map described in Subsection
(1)
; and
(ii)
recommendations for establishing zones for high value mineral areas.
Section 5. Section
63L-11-503
is enacted to read:
63L-11-503
. Monitoring of landscape public nuisance conditions.
(1)
The division may identify a landscape public nuisance area on landscape-scale lands
containing forested areas.
(2)
In evaluating whether a landscape public nuisance area exists, the division may consider:
(a)
tree or foliage density;
(b)
landscape health;
(c)
insect and disease infestation, including insect and disease hazard ratings;
(d)
fuel loads;
(e)
forest or range type;
(f)
slope and other natural characteristics of an area;
(g)
quantity and quality of the water supply in a watershed;
(h)
weather and climate; and
(i)
any other factor that the division considers reasonably relevant.
Section 6.
Repealer.
Title.
Section 7.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect on
May 6, 2026
.
3-11-26 11:41 AM