A new report called Too Wild to Drill calls for greater government protections of federally managed public lands around Desolation Canyon and at Bears Ears in Utah.
According to the report from The Wilderness Society, both places are at risk of being compromised by energy development.
Mark Maryboy is a board member with Utah Dine Bikeyah, a group calling on Congress to designate Bears Ears, located in southeastern Utah, as a national conservation area.
He said the area holds centuries of history for the Navajo and other tribes.
"And then we have over 150,000 sites where people used to live, somewhere around 600 A.D." he said. "The remains, the sites, the roads are still there."
Maryboy says there currently is energy development on public lands to the north and east of Bears Ears. The report calls for more public involvement and support seeking policy changes at the Bureau of Land Management to better protect natural resources.
Scott Miller, senior regional director for the southwest region for the The Wilderness Society, said the Gold King Mine spill in Colorado is an example of what can happen when you don't do enough to protect public resources. Millions of gallons of toxic sludge were accidentally dumped into the Animas River last week and are flowing into Lake Powell.
"As the toxic plume flows downriver from Southwestern Colorado through these landscapes, folks will be thinking about how important it is to set these places aside permanently, so they don't have to face those risks, and their children don't have to face those risks in the future," Miller stresses.
Miller adds that places such as Bears Ears and Desolation Canyon are important to the economy.
According to the Outdoor Industry Association, in a recent year, outdoor recreation accounted for $12 billion in consumer spending in Utah, and supported 122,000 jobs.