On December 20, the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published their record of decision endorsing the Red Hills Parkway Expressway. This move reverses the 2021 decision by the same organizations that granted the Northern Corridor right-of-way in exchange for expanding the Reserve by 6,812 acres (an area known collectively as Zone 6). Due to their new decision, Reserve Zone 6 has been eliminated.
This means 3,341 aces of non-federal land formerly protected in Zone 6 is now authorized for development. These lands include the popular Moe’s Valley climbing and Dwarf Bear Poppy biking areas. State and local leaders condemned this decision in a press release coordinated by the governor’s office