Feds' preferred highway route would impact lands it spent millions acquiring for conservation

Over the years, the Bureau of Land Management has spent millions acquiring private parcels inside the desert tortoise preserve that is now enveloped by the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area just outside St. George.Now the agency is proposing to allow Utah transportation officials to pave a major highway through or near 15 of these parcels covering 832 acres, according to an analysis by Conserve Southwest Utah. The property was purchased with nearly $21 million drawn from the federal Land and