BY KRISTA LANGLOIS
For the past three years, conservation groups held out hope that Republican Rep. Rob Bishop would protect some of Utah’s most stunning and vulnerable red rock landscapes in exchange for oil and gas drilling, economic development and motorized use elsewhere. Some were skeptical: Even as Bishop touted a balanced approach for his “grand bargain,” he actively supported other efforts to transfer public lands to state control and gut the Land and Water Conservation Fund. But no one wanted to jeopardize what was shaping up to be the biggest public lands compromise the West has seen in decades...