POLITICAL BRIEFING

CALL OF THE WILD: The environment may be taking a back seat in the presidential election, but in Utah it’s largely steering the battle to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jake Garn. . . . Democratic candidate Wayne Owens, a four-term congressman from Salt Lake City, is proudly running on his environmental record, which includes proposing a 5.4-million-acre Utah wilderness bill--three times the size desired by the rest of the state’s congressional delegation--and favoring reintroduction of wolves to the West. “This is probably the only race in the country where the environment is the No. 1 issue,� Owens said. . . . His Republican foe, businessman William F. Bennett, provides a clear alternative: He backs minimal wilderness designation, a weaker Endangered Species Act and looser wetlands regulations. Utah voters apparently approve. A recent poll gave Bennett a 17-percentage-point lead.