After kvetching for years about the national monuments set aside by former President Clinton across the West, Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt (R) called yesterday for President Bush to designate a 620,000-acre national monument protecting a red canyons area in the central part of the state. Enviros have long fought to protect the San Rafael Swell region, but they were reluctant to embrace Leavitt’s request because it would allow off-road vehicles in much of the national monument. Heidi McIntosh of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said, “It’s going to be a litmus test for President Bush.” Leavitt and his backers stressed that the plan would have local support, while they claimed that Clinton’s national monuments were imposed by the feds with little local input.
