The American Land Council  sponsored by state Rep. Ken Ivory  spouts legal justifications for going after federal land. But let's be clear: Utah is not "taking land back," as Ivory would have it. It has never been Utah's. The federal government got it in a treaty after the Mexican American War. Mormon pioneers trekked west and settled on federal lands. When Utah petitioned for statehood and agreed to the terms of Utah's 1894 Enabling Act, in which the state "forever disclaimed all right and title to the land in Utah."