Governor Matheson Natural resources working files, 1964-1984.

This series contains numerous types of records (including correspondence, memoranda, notes, policy statements, speeches, testimonies, proposals, and reports) generated and received by the Governor's office that reflect the development of Utah policy on the management and use of Utah's land and natural resources from 1977 to 1984. This time-period in Utah's history was marked by increased contention between Utah citizens, and local, state, and federal entities regarding the ownership, management, and use of Utah's natural resources; the records in this series reflect the role of the Governor and his staff as those responsible for the acknowledgment, and possible incorporation, of constituent and governmental concerns in policy-making in this area. Three major issues represented in this series are the Sagebrush Rebellion, Project BOLD, and the Central Utah Project.

Specifically, this series includes outgoing correspondence, memoranda, notes, policy statements, speeches, and testimoniesgenerated by the Governor's office; incoming correspondence, proposals, and reports from local, state, and federal entities (especially the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service); and incoming correspondence from constituents. This series contains information on land ownership and use, including documents relating to Project BOLD (a proposed land exchange process between Utah and the federal government that would consolidate scattered State holdings), the Sagebrush Rebellion (the people's resistance to federal ownership and management of Western lands), and the Paiute Restoration Act/Reservation Plan (reflecting efforts by the Paiutes to have their land and water rights restored). This series also includes information relating to energy development and energy facility siting in Utah, including documents regarding the proposed power plant in Garfield County, the Moon Lake power project, and the Intermountain Power Project. Also found in this series is informationrelating to the management and use of specific natural resources, such as water (including documents relating to the Central Utah Project--a long-standing water reclamation and distribution project--as well as records relating to the floods that Utah experienced in the early 1980s), coal, natural gas, and oil shale. In addition, materials relating to wilderness proposals and debated wilderness areas (including the Deep Creek Mountains) are held in this series. This series also includes information on acid rain, air pollution, use of chemicals in predator control, low-level radioactive waste, and the preservation of archaeological and historical sites.