West Desert District Office

 

 

Located in the northwestern Utah, the 7.7 million-acre West Desert District is uniquely different from any other part of the state. Much of this area is a part of the Great Basin region, a place of isolated mountain ranges separated by desert playas and wide-sweeping sagebrush flats. With few amenities, the desert provides a place of solitude and an escape from the urban lifestyle. The West Desert District consists of the Salt Lake Field Office and Fillmore Field Office.

 

The West Desert District epitomizes the BLM’s recreation mission to provide backyard to backcountry access. The District is home to 2.6 million Utah citizens, nearly 86% of the state’s population. Population growth and the wildland urban interface challenge the BLM with complex management situations.

 

BLM-Utah is divided into five fire zones, with the West Desert Fire, Fuels, and Aviation Program being the largest and most complex organization in the state. The program is challenged not only by 7.7 million acres of public land to protect, but also by the growing wildland-urban interface. This fiscal year, the fuels program is undertaking a goal of 8,287 acres treated through mastication and lop and scatter. Additional acreage will be treated through seeding to meet a goal of approximately 23,500 acres treated.