While the less-populated areas of Utah may look to some like nothing but desert, they are most of them hotbeds of dispute in the ongoing public lands debate. The core of the issue is essentially whether or not they should be controlled by the federal or state government, and what they should be used for: sources of tax revenue, resource extraction, recreation, or ranch lands. There are as diverse a list of possible uses as there are people who feel strongly about any one of those uses. Leisl Carr-Childers, a professor of history who specializes in combining public history projects and academic publication on the American West and in environmental history, will tackle this tough subject at BYU on November 19th.

Hosted by the Charles Redd Center at BYU, her lecture will focus on the Great Basin. “A stark and beautiful desert filled with sagebrush seas and mountain ranges,” she says, “is ground zero for public lands conflicts. Arising out of the multiple, often incompatible uses created throughout the twentieth century, these struggles reveal a tension inherent within public lands management that pits ranchers against federal officials, outdoor recreationists, and wild horse advocates.”

The lecture will take place Thursday, November 19th at 11 a.m. in B192 of the Joseph F. Smith Building (JFSB). Parking is available as follows:

• in a large Y lot to the west of the building if you are a student, or
• if you are a visitor, in the visitor lots north of the Museum of Art or east of the Wilkinson Center (see this map).