Utah

Brandon Loomis

A southeastern Utah ATV trail illegally built by two Blanding men may yet become a legitimate motorized route for people who want to view ancient cliff dwellings.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is considering a San Juan County application for the right of way in Recapture Canyon.

Sheena McFarland

Two Blanding men on Friday were fined $35,000 and placed on years of probation after pleading guilty to creating an ATV trail through archaeological sites in Recapture Canyon.

On Jan. 11, Kenneth James Brown, 67, and Daniel Lee Felstead, 38, were charged with the misdemeanor of damaging the property that the Bureau of Land Management administrates by creating the trail in 2005. The potential penalty for such a crime is up to one year in prison and a fine of $100,000.

Dale Rodebaugh

Two members of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, a Durango-based conservation group, recently found their organization was mentioned on Old West-style “wanted” posters in Utah.

A printed poster carrying a threat to Great Old Broads for Wilderness was taped to a Bureau of Land Management sign announcing travel restrictions in Recapture Canyon near Blanding, Utah.

Durango’s Great Old Broads for Wilderness have gone into the crosshairs in Southeast Utah. Members of the locally based conservation group were recently targeted by a series of “Wanted” posters in the canyon country near Blanding and Bluff. 

The poster reads “Wanted Dead or Alive” and goes on to claim that Great Old Broads are not allowed in Utah’s San Juan County by order of the Bureau of Land Management and the sheriff’s office. Both agencies deny any involvement in the poster’s appearance.

In 2003, the Bush administration’s Interior Department entered into an agreement with the state of Utah that was instantly labeled the “No more wilderness” pact. It was a bad idea that essentially saw then-Interior Secretary Gail Norton unilaterally renounce the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s lawful duty to consider the preservation of some federal lands even as it parceled out other portions for everything from oil rigs to off-road vehicle playgrounds.

In 2010, the Obama administration’s Interior Department announced a new policy that might be labeled the “Some more wilderness. Maybe. After public comment and congressional review” policy. It is a better idea, and not nearly as radical a movement in the pro-wilderness direction as the Bush policy was down the anti-wilderness path.

Amy Joi O'Donoghue

A host of public land planning options for 2.1 million acres in Beaver, Iron and part of Washington counties is under consideration as the Bureau of Land Management launches a management strategy for the area.

Three meetings designed to solicit input from cities, impacted counties, Native American Indian tribes and the general public are set for December.

Tom Wharton

Park City big-game hunter John Pollard’s environmental stands might cause sportsmen who use ATVs, dislike wilderness and hate big predators to cringe.

He is a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which is fighting hard to reduce wolf numbers, and is a national board member for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, which supports a balance between predator and prey. The 66-year-old retired airline pilot has also joined the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Can an honor system work to keep all-terrain-vehicle riders on established trails? We hope so, because relying on the honor of ATV users — and peer pressure to do the right thing — is the only possible way of protecting thousands of state-owned acres in remote areas of the Beehive State.

The state School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration has adopted a model of give-and-take on a 27,500-acre parcel of land it owns in the La Sal Mountains in an effort to gain the cooperation of ATV users. SITLA has identified 134 miles of approved ATV trails through the scenic property and is asking ATVers to stick to those trails.

Brandon Loomis

State land managers have dedicated 134 miles of off-road routes in the alpine forest here that they hope will halt years of rogue trail busting and provide a model for cooperative use statewide.

All-terrain vehicle riders joined local and state officials in a torrential sleet storm at 11,000 feet to unveil one of 10 information kiosks where riders will see the rules and be able to pick up trail maps. The state School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration invites riders to 134 miles of trails on the 27,500 acres it owns in two blocks on the east slope of the mountains southeast of Moab. But the agency also closed 36 miles that riders had pioneered on their own, and will spend the next few years contouring and seeding them to keep them shut.