Northern Corridor Highway Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Washington County Habitat Conservation Plan
We need your voice in the fight to protect the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and Desert Reserve, two overlapping protected areas bordering the northern edge of the St. George metropolitan area. Washington County residents, Utahns and all Americans are invited to engage in the 90-day public comment period for the Northern Corridor Highway (NCH) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS).
The proposed Northern Corridor Highway would travel for 4.5 miles through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and Desert Reserve. This graphic shows the highway routing, revealing the beautiful landscape that would be devastated. Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) released the Draft EIS- a document that discloses the highway’s impacts to our environment and communities, in addition to analyzing a range of transportation alternatives. Your Draft EIS comment can support the "Red Hills Parkway Expressway Alignment" and the "St. George Boulevard/100 South One-way Couplet"-- two alternatives that provide efficient traffic flow without destroying scenic beauty, trails, archaeological sites and threatened wildlife.
Also released today is the related Draft Washington County Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). The HCP established the 62,000-acre Red Cliffs Desert Reserve to protect a home for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise in exchange for opening over 300,000 acres of surrounding land to development. The HCP expired in 2016, and Washington County is currently trying to renew it with provisions for the Northern Corridor Highway.
Mojave desert tortoise in the right-of-way for the proposed Northern Corridor Highway.
Photo credit: I. Kalantzes
CSU opposes the Northern Corridor Highway because:
The highway does not honor prior promises to protect the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and the threatened Mojave desert tortoise.
The highway damages the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and sets a dangerous precedent for all of America’s National Conservation Lands.
There are more effective, less expensive transportation solutions that can reduce future traffic congestion without sacrificing Red Cliffs.
Damage caused by the highway can’t be mitigated byZone 6.
The highway undermines the spectacular quality of life we enjoy in Washington County.
Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. Photo credit: M. Van Der Merwe
The deadline for commenting is September 10th. We need an outcry of public opposition to prevent the Northern Corridor Highway from being green-lighted. Comments on the Draft EIS that support transportation alternatives outside Red Cliffs are incredibly important.
So, what’s next? The Draft EIS, Draft HCP and associated documents weigh in at a whopping 1,174 pages! You do not have to read them from front to back to participate in this important comment period. Conserve Southwest Utah's knowledgeable team will review the documents and provide guidance to help you make effective comments. We will share this guidance long before your comment is due on September 10th.
Please consider waiting to comment until you see our tips for writing a substantivecomment. BLM and FWS are asking for more than a "yes" or "no" vote on the Northern Corridor Highway.
Sign up for alerts and find more information on the CSU website.
Please help spread the word by getting family, friends and neighbors involved in this comment process! Visit this CSU pagefor an easy way to get others involved. We need your help saying "No Way to the Northern Corridor Highway!"
Resources
To see the Notice of Availability (which provides a good introduction to the transportation alternatives being analyzed in the Draft EIS), click here.
