Air Force and Bureau of Land Management officials have identified over 700,000 acres of public land just outside the Utah Test and Training range that can be temporarily closed as the military tests weapons and new “hypersonics” — or high speed weapons.
Officials have designated eight “buffer zones” in Utah’s West Desert, and are asking for public comment on a memorandum of agreement between the two groups on the process of closing the lands. The public comment period ends May 9, according to a news release from the Bureau of Land Management.
The memorandum — the first of its kind in Utah — was drafted as per the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized the 703,621 acres of land could be closed, but didn’t specify how that could happen, Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Hannah Cowan said.