Endangered desert tortoises face new threat as Trump revives rejected Utah highway

Six groups sue over highway reapproval

Six conservation groups sued the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Feb. 4, challenging the Trump administration’s reapproval of a four-lane highway through protected land near St. George, Utah.

The groups filed the case in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. , arguing the January 2026 approval of the Northern Corridor Highway violates several federal laws.

The proposed 4.5-mile road would cut through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, home to the threatened Mojave desert tortoise.

Congress created Red Cliffs in 2009

The Red Cliffs National Conservation Area covers 44,724 acres in southwestern Utah, just north of St. George. Congress created it in 2009 under the Omnibus Public Land Management Act to protect the area’s wildlife, scenery, and scientific value.

It sits inside the larger Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, a 62,000-acre protected zone that dates back to 1996.

That reserve grew out of a Habitat Conservation Plan designed to shield the Mojave desert tortoise while still allowing development on about 300,000 acres of nearby state and private land.

Tortoise numbers dropped more than 50 percent

The Mojave Desert tortoise earned federal protection as a threatened species in 1990.

The proposed highway would run directly through the tortoise’s designated critical habitat inside the conservation area. The population has taken a serious hit over the past two decades.

Adult tortoise numbers in the reserve’s core area fell from about 33 per square kilometer in 1998 to roughly 12 per square kilometer in 2019.

Preliminary 2025 data showed a 26 percent mortality rate, which researchers called catastrophic for a long-lived species.

Highway has been considered eight times

The Northern Corridor Highway is not a new idea. Officials have considered it eight times over roughly two decades, and the concept for an east-west route north of St. George predates the conservation area itself.

The 2009 Omnibus Act even directed the Interior Secretary to identify a northern transportation route through BLM-managed land. The Utah Department of Transportation formally applied for a right-of-way in 2018.

Since then, different presidential administrations have approved, rejected, and reversed the project multiple times.

First Trump approval came in January 2021

The BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service first approved the highway on Jan. 13, 2021, during the final days of Trump’s first term.

Conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Conserve Southwest Utah, sued shortly after. They argued the approval broke federal environmental and land protection laws.

The case landed before the U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C., and the conservation groups asked for summary judgment in February 2023.

Biden administration rejected the highway

That 2021 lawsuit led to a settlement with the Biden administration in 2023.

The government agreed to prepare a new environmental analysis and issue a fresh decision, and the groups voluntarily dismissed the case on Dec. 21, 2023.

The BLM released its updated findings in May 2024. The analysis found the highway would increase wildfire risk, spread invasive plants, and permanently destroy critical tortoise habitat.

In December 2024, the BLM revoked the approval and backed an alternative called the Red Hills Parkway Expressway, which would upgrade an existing four-lane road.

Trump administration reversed course again

In October 2025, the BLM said it would reconsider the highway after UDOT argued the Red Hills Parkway alternative was not economically feasible.

On Jan. 21, 2026, the agency reapproved the Northern Corridor Highway, saying its 2024 rejection rested on a faulty premise about the alternative route.

Conservation groups say the reapproval throws out the agencies’ own scientific findings from just months earlier. They also argue it violates the terms of the 2023 settlement agreement that ended the previous lawsuit.

Lawsuit alleges four federal law violations

Advocates for the West filed the suit on behalf of six groups: Conserve Southwest Utah, Center for Biological Diversity, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, WildEarth Guardians, Conservation Lands Foundation, and Defenders of Wildlife.

The suit alleges violations of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act.

That last claim stems from federal money previously used to buy private land within the conservation area, some of which would now be paved over.

Utah already staking the highway route

The Utah Department of Transportation has already started staking the right-of-way with wood markers along the route.

Conservation groups say the BLM has not yet approved a required highway development plan for the public lands the road would cross.

Conserve Southwest Utah said those ground-disturbing activities forced them to file when they did. The highway would connect Washington Parkway on the east to Red Hills Parkway on the west, bypassing downtown St. George entirely.

Local leaders say the road is crucial

Washington County has ranked among the fastest-growing areas in the country for years.

St. George’s population jumped from about 49,000 in 2000 to more than 100,000 by 2024, and local officials say traffic downtown has become a serious problem.

Washington County Commissioner Adam Snow said the highway is the only feasible way to balance conservation with the county’s transportation needs.

St. George Mayor Jimmie Hughes called the project “absolutely crucial” and said he was disappointed by the lawsuit.

Zone 6 land swap draws criticism

As part of the highway deal, Washington County agreed to add roughly 6,800 acres called Zone 6 to the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.

The land, southeast of St. George, holds popular rock climbing and mountain biking areas along with more than 900 threatened desert tortoises and roughly 17,000 endangered dwarf bearclaw poppies.

The BLM’s 2024 study found Zone 6 actually has higher tortoise density than the section where the highway would go. Conservation groups say 200 acres of core habitat cannot be replaced by land elsewhere.

Case heads to federal court in D.C.

The case will move forward in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Lead attorney Hannah Goldblatt of Advocates for the West said the legal claims against the highway are strong and that the groups expect to win.

The conservation groups are in talks with UDOT’s legal team about pausing construction while the lawsuit plays out.

The highway has failed on seven previous attempts over concerns about wildlife, public safety, and legal compliance.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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