On October 3, 2025, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reignited a long-simmering debate in southern Utah by announcing it would reassess a controversial right-of-way application for the Northern Corridor Highway—a proposed four-lane road slicing through the heart of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (NCA) near St. George. The move, coming less than a year after federal agencies rejected the project for a record seventh time, has conservationists, local residents, and national advocacy groups bracing for another round in what has become a decades-long struggle over the fate of some of America’s most treasured public lands.
The Red Cliffs NCA, a sprawling 44,724-acre expanse of red rock desert, is no ordinary patch of wilderness. Established by Congress in 2009, it was designed to “conserve, protect, and enhance” the ecological, scenic, wildlife, recreational, and cultural riches of the region. The area is home to more than 130 miles of trails, two wilderness areas, and a host of threatened and endangered species, including the Mojave desert tortoise, Gila monster, burrowing owl, and kit fox. Its proximity—just 45 miles from the famed Zion National Park—and inclusion of Snow Canyon State Park make it a magnet for hikers, mountain bikers, rock climbers, and nature lovers from around the world.
But the latest BLM announcement, which opened a new public comment period through November 3, 2025, has reignited fears that the Northern Corridor Highway could permanently scar this landscape. According to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and reporting by Conserve Southwest Utah, the highway proposal has been rejected seven times, most recently in December 2024 by both the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The agencies’ decision cited a litany of concerns: the road would cut through critical habitat for the imperiled Mojave desert tortoise, violate at least five major environmental laws, damage iconic vistas, disrupt outdoor recreation, and set a dangerous precedent for development in federally protected conservation areas nationwide.
“Despite years of failed attempts, Washington County officials have made it clear they are going to keep spending taxpayer dollars on a plan to ram a highway through a National Conservation Area,” said Holly Snow Canada, Executive Director at Conserve Southwest Utah, in a statement released October 7. “Pursuing this unlawful and outdated idea would cause significant harm to the people, plants and wildlife of Washington County, even though better transportation solutions exist.”
The environmental stakes are high. The Mojave desert tortoise, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, is already on what leading researchers describe as a path to extinction. The Red Cliffs region, with some of the densest remaining populations, is especially vulnerable as development pressures mount in southwest Utah. According to the BLM’s own Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, the Northern Corridor Highway would not only increase the probability and frequency of wildfires and permanently destroy critical tortoise habitat, but also spread invasive plants and threaten more cultural and historical resources than any other alternative considered.
The public’s opposition to the highway has been consistent and vocal. Since 2006, residents and advocacy groups have pointed to alternative routes outside the Red Cliffs NCA that, they argue, would relieve traffic congestion, support economic growth, and protect both wildlife and recreation. Yet, the push for the highway has persisted through multiple administrations and legal battles. In the waning days of the first Trump Administration, the BLM and FWS approved a right-of-way for the project, prompting a coalition of conservation organizations to file a lawsuit. Their argument: the highway violated the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and other federal laws.
The legal fight culminated in a November 2023 settlement, which led federal agencies to again reject the highway project. Shortly thereafter, a U.S. District Court remanded the 2021 approval, underscoring the risks of fragmenting sensitive wildlife habitat and reducing access to outdoor recreation. The court’s action was hailed by conservationists as a victory for the integrity of protected public lands across the United States.
The Red Cliffs NCA itself is a product of compromise and collaboration. It forms part of the larger Red Cliffs Desert Reserve—some 61,000 acres set aside under a 1995 Habitat Conservation Plan to protect the Mojave desert tortoise while opening up 300,000 acres of state and private land for development. The NCA’s congressional mandate is sweeping: to safeguard not just the region’s wildlife, but also its scenic beauty, cultural artifacts, and recreational opportunities for generations to come.
Yet, the battle over Red Cliffs is just one front in a broader national debate about the future of America’s public lands. On October 2, 2025, Utah Senator Mike Lee introduced a separate, highly controversial bill that would open all federal land within 100 miles of the U.S. northern and southern borders—including designated wilderness areas—to roads, motorized vehicles, clear-cutting, and border security infrastructure. The bill, co-sponsored by several senators from states far from the border, would allow the Department of Homeland Security to construct and maintain roads, deploy surveillance systems, and build fences and other structures in some of the country’s most pristine wild areas, such as Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area.
Supporters of Lee’s bill, including the senator himself, argue that the legislation is necessary to "restore order, protect our national parks from decades of abuse, and give federal, state, and local officers the tools to secure the border." In a release from the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Lee claimed, “Families who want to enjoy a safe hike or campout are instead finding trash piles, burned landscapes, and trails closed because rangers are stuck cleaning up the fallout. Cartels are exploiting the disorder, using these lands as cover for their operations. This bill gives land managers and border agents the tools to restore order and protect these places for the people they were meant to serve.”
But critics, including Land Tawney of American Hunters and Anglers, warn the bill would "completely overhaul the Wilderness Act and defile public lands." Tawney voiced strong opposition, saying, “Giving them complete authority within 100 miles of our border makes no sense. That’s a third of Montana. Do we want Big Brother setting up surveillance where we’re sitting around a campsite? Hell no.” Conservation groups and sportsmen argue that the proposal would weaken the 1964 Wilderness Act, which prohibits motorized use in wilderness areas and has been a bedrock of wildlife and landscape protection for over half a century.
Notably, neither the bill nor its supporting press releases provide concrete examples of illegal immigration or cartel activity entering the country through wilderness along the northern border. The only related statistic cited was that at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, over 3,000 volunteer hours are spent annually on trash cleanup. Chris Wood, CEO of Trout Unlimited, supports cleaner public lands but sees the bill as "an insult to the federal law enforcement officials who already work for public-land agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service." Previous attempts to pass similar legislation in 2019 and 2023 failed after strong pushback from hunters, anglers, and conservationists.
As the Red Cliffs highway fight and the borderlands wilderness bill converge, a pivotal question looms: Will America’s wildest places remain protected, or will new roads, fences, and development carve up the last refuges for threatened species and outdoor recreation? With public comments due soon and both sides digging in, the outcome will shape not just the fate of Red Cliffs, but the future of public lands across the nation.
For now, the red rocks of southern Utah stand as both a battleground and a symbol—of compromise, controversy, and the enduring struggle to balance access, security, and preservation in the American landscape.