LETTER TO THE EDITOR — I am a resident of Washington City who envisions a future where a transportation alternative to the Northern Corridor Highway serves the needs of the community while keeping the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area protected for our children and future generations. I live near the proposed Northern Corridor Highway/Washington Parkway.
I am writing to draw your attention to the new Northern Corridor Highway study which demonstrates how homeowners in Washington City can expect to face larger and more frequent wildfires in the future if the highway is built. I ask readers to support effective transportation alternatives located outside the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area that won’t jeopardize the safety of families and homes in Washington City.
Thousands of Washington City homeowners in Green Springs, Brio and Warm Springs live less than a quarter mile from the proposed Northern Corridor or existing Washington Parkway. The Northern Corridor, if built, would connect to the Washington Parkway, carrying traffic from Interstate 15 Exit 13 to Red Hills Parkway near Dixie Rock. This means 32,000-46,000 vehicles per day or more would travel this highway by 2050. The Bureau of Land Management’s highway study, or Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, shows that families in this area face increased risk of wildfire if the highway is built. It reads as follows:
“Construction of the Northern Corridor on the UDOT ROW Alignment has the potential to further introduce ignition sources during construction and through daily vehicle usage and increased human activity. This would increase fire probability and likely increase fire frequency near the highway, which would again lead to an increase in noxious weeds and invasive species. Road construction would create a permanent fuel break and potential weed treatments and road maintenance activities could reduce fuel loads in the short term. However, these actions may not offset the increase in fire probability and likely increase in fire frequency that would occur from constructing a road in the NCA” (ES-4, 34).
The idea that roads always act as firebreaks is dated. Under ideal conditions, roads can prevent the spread of fire. However, strong winds and the underlying drought conditions that cause large fires make it easy for them to jump interstates. Dozens of articles detail the terrifying impacts of wildfires jumping California highways. In our area, the 2020 Cottonwood Trail Fire started on I-15 when a semi-truck blew a tire, spread into the Red Cliffs NCA and then jumped all four lanes and the median of I-15, causing evacuation of Harrisburg.
A significant relationship exists between fire occurrence and distance to the nearest road. Roads provide access, functioning as the source for human-caused fires to start. An examination of the spatial relationship of roads to wildfires by the Pacific Biodiversity Institute found that 88% of all wildfires nationwide are caused by humans. Of these human-caused wildfires, 95% occurred within a half-mile of a road. Over 90% of all wildfires from all causes occurred within a half-mile of a road.
The new Northern Corridor study explores how catastrophic wildfires have become the new normal in the Red Cliffs NCA. The spread of invasive grasses, like cheatgrass and red brome, has created a high fuel load on the desert lands in our backyards, leading to larger, hotter and more frequent fires. We find ourselves trapped in a frightening burn-reburn cycle where cheatgrass grows back stronger and faster than native plants, dominating the desert and supporting the next monster fire with its tinder.
As a homeowner in Washington City, I appreciate the BLM’s honesty about wildfire in the SEIS. It’s frustrating to hear local leaders say that the Northern Corridor Highway will act as a firebreak, when this isn’t true. It’s much more likely for the Northern Corridor to be a place where a fire is started, rather than stopped.
In 2020, teenagers setting off fireworks on the Turkey Farm Road in the Red Cliffs NCA started the 10,000-acre Turkey Farm Road Fire. Smoke from the fire engulfed homes as the flames crept down Mustang Mesa toward Green Springs. Planes dropped flame retardant over homes, and homeowners prepared to evacuate.
The Turkey Farm Road Fire was one of four major fires in 2020 that burned 25% of the Red Cliffs NCA. All were caused by people who made mistakes or had accidents on existing roadways in Red Cliffs. Again, the projected traffic load on the Northern Corridor Highway in 2050 is at least 32,000-46,000 vehicles per day. This volume of travel creates a lot of risk points for human-caused fire, including car crashes, sparks from tow chains, tossed cigarette butts, fireworks and more.
Portions of the Red Cliffs NCA adjacent to Green Springs have already experienced five or more wildfires since 1993. Vegetation communities are shifting from native species to cheatgrass tinder. As this conversion continues, the likelihood of mega-fires devastating the beauty of the Red Cliffs NCA and the health and safety of the people who live next door increases. The impact statement shows that frequent wildfires are part of our future. We could be experiencing wildfires as often as every five years:
“An emerging pattern suggests previously burned areas will burn again hotter and larger roughly 12-15 years later, and the landscape may be capable of supporting fire return intervals as short as 5-10 years” (SEIS, 29).
The consequences wildfire poses for low-income populations are even greater. The Northern Corridor would also impact the communities east of Green Springs, including Brio and Warm Springs. Interestingly, the SEIS identifies Brio as an environmental justice population in the category of meeting or exceeding the state of Utah’s low-income threshold. Home prices in the older neighborhood of Warm Springs, just next door, are lower than in Brio. If Brio is an environmental justice population, Warm Springs would be as well. These communities are especially vulnerable to the impacts of wildfire that could be caused by construction of the Northern Corridor Highway because they fall within:
“The 94th percentile for projected wildfire risk and 97th percentile for economic loss to building value resulting from natural hazards each year. Increased ignition sources from construction of and day-to-day use of a highway would increase these risks and affect the identified Environmental Justice populations. Many individuals in the identified low-income populations could be renters lacking renters’ insurance or without means to rebuild should a fire take their property” (SEIS, 76).
Wildfire impacts could devastate families in these areas. The SEIS states that wildfire would “disproportionately and adversely affect environmental justice communities located proximal to the route due to factors such as the inability to relocate, smoke inhalation due to lack of access to air filtration, and the prevalence of outdoor work done by sectors of these communities.”
If the Northern Corridor is built and acts as an ignition source for wildfires on a five-year burn interval, it could be very difficult to insure a home in Washington City. Insurance companies use forward-looking catastrophe models that take into account the increased risks of wildfire from climate change. Washington County experienced record drought and extreme climate events from 2019-23, including the hottest, driest and wettest periods on record going back to 1893. High fire danger days are expected to increase as much as 41 days more than the historic average (SEIS, 43).
In parts of California, some insurance companies have left the state entirely or tripled their premiums. Many homeowners have reached the tipping point. They’re contemplating selling their homes and leaving the state.
Consider future homeowners in Solente, a 2,200-unit master-planned community currently under construction in Washington City at the edge of the Red Cliffs NCA. The Northern Corridor will certainly impact Solente’s “elevated, exceptional and effortless” lifestyle with traffic, noise, air and light pollution, and heightened risk of wildfire. Solente is advertised as a luxury community “set against the hill-tops, red cliffs and sheer sandstone walls of the high desert.”
In Green Springs, many were sold homes under the pretense that the desert behind them would remain protected forever. It’s a National Conservation Area, after all, a place set aside for the benefit of present and future generations. Breaking the promise to protect Red Cliffs and the people next door sets a bad precedent.
Present and future homeowners in Washington City have a lot at stake when it comes to the Northern Corridor. When you have a stunning National Conservation Area in your backyard, the value of your property reflects that. Empty lots next to Red Cliffs are valued between $300,000 and $500,000. Imagine building the home of your dreams and seeing it go up in smoke because a car backfires or a teenager plays with fireworks on the Northern Corridor Highway and sets the desert ablaze.
Many homeowners have chosen to enjoy their golden years in Green Springs next to the Red Cliffs NCA. They consider it a place of peace. Census Data from 2020 shows that nearly 35% of the population in the Green Springs area is age 65 and older. Putting the health and safety of these residents at risk when effective transportation alternatives exist is unfair.
Engineering groups analyzed the Northern Corridor Highway and five alternatives in 2020. Two highway alternatives located outside of the Red Cliffs NCA and away from Green Springs, Brio and Warm Springs were shown to perform better than the Northern Corridor at reducing traffic congestion and travel time. The Red Hills Parkway Expressway, for example, would provide a direct connection between I-15 and Red Hills Parkway, meeting UDOT’s need to support east-west traffic flow. This alternative would reduce congestion at 12 out of 15 intersections where traffic bottlenecks exist.
However, no dream highway will fix all of our traffic problems. Relieving congestion in sticky areas, like Exit 10 and the Green Spring/Telegraph Street intersection, will require a bigger vision than building another road which will induce more traffic. For example, neither the Northern Corridor Highway nor the Red Hills Parkway Expressway will alleviate congestion at the busy Green Spring/Telegraph intersection.
The BLM is currently accepting comments on their draft SEIS. Better alternatives to the Northern Corridor are on the table, so I am commenting to say no to a highway in the Red Cliffs NCA.
It’s time to voice your support for one of the alternatives and request that these alternatives be fine-tuned and improved. Planners, elected officials and residents should come together to shape the best possible alternative to the Northern Corridor Highway, one that will protect our beautiful red cliffs and our neighborhoods from wildfire.
Visit the BLM’s website to see the SEIS and submit your comment before June 24. As a homeowner in Washington City, it is your right to participate in this decision-making process and to advocate for your family and property. But don’t forget, you’re more than a homeowner. You also have a stake in the fate of the Red Cliffs NCA. National Conservation Areas belong to you, to all of us, and to the future.
This comment period is open to all. Whether you’re a homeowner in Washington City, a resident of Washington County, a resident of Utah or beyond, I invite you to advocate for protection of the Red Cliffs NCA.
Submitted by SARAH THOMAS, Grassroots Organizer, Conserve Southwest Utah
Conserve Southwest Utah is the only local organization advocating for homeowners in the Northern Corridor Highway process. Get help writing your SEIS comment by visiting Conserve Southwest Utah’s comment page. Questions? Email [email protected]
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