Utah Will Co-Manage 8 Million Acres of National Forest. Insiders Say It's (Probably) Not a Way of Transferring Federal Land to States

Utah Will Co-Manage 8 Million Acres of National Forest. Insiders Say It's (Probably) Not a Way of Transferring Federal Land to States

Utah inked an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service last week that gives state officials a bigger say in how its roughly 8 million acres of national forests are managed. The deal is a step toward what U.S. Forest Service chief Tom Schultz called a new “role for the states” in managing public lands, and it’s one of several such agreements involving other states. “We’re trying to focus on wildfire prevention, forest health, recreation, grazing, w…