Utah

A 161-acre swath of southern Utah that was damaged by illegal off-road vehicle use will now be used to preserve a rare, endangered poppy.

The Nature Conservancy's purchase is the latest step in plans to create the 800-acre White Dome Nature

Rodger L. Hardy

PAYSON — For some, a motocross track and off-road vehicle trail planned for south Utah County would be welcome.
For others it would disturb the tranquility of the rural area.

The project includes a competitive motocross and ATV track on the south end of West Mountain near the Payson landfill, a 26-mile trail around the base of the mountain and a designated shooting area. It would become part of the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation.

Tom Wharton

The use of all-terrain vehicles as tools for big game hunting needs to be restricted or, in some areas of Utah, even eliminated.

They give the hunters who use them not only an unfair advantage over sportsmen who choose to hike, but over big game itself.

The Dixie National Forest is implementing a new plan outlawing unrestricted off-trail travel for motorized vehicles and designating some 2,700 miles of routes for ATVs and other vehicles.

The plan was approved last summer and implemented this fall.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eighty-nine House members sent a letter Tuesday to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking him to protect 9.4 million acres of red rocks lands in Utah while Congress works on legislation.

The letter also asks Salazar to rescind an agreement reached between the Bush administration and the state of Utah that prevents the Bureau of Land Management from designating new wilderness study areas. The wilderness study designation discourages uses of the land that might alter its natural character.

Garrett Veneklasen

By God, it was my right. No one could tell me I couldn't chop new roads through national forest land with my off-road vehicle and my chainsaw.

I paid my taxes. This land belonged to me. If a few trees had to be cut and some makeshift roads had to be opened, well, too bad. It was worth it if I got to have a little more fun. My buddies in New Mexico and millions more around the country probably felt the same way.

Tom Wharton's "Thanks to Moab land managers" ( Tribune , Oct. 23) highlights an important figure from a recent Bureau of Land Management survey of public land users: Only 12 percent of visitors to lands managed by BLM's Moab field office recreate with off-road vehicles.

Unfortunately, Wharton omitted one important statistic: BLM's new travel plan makes 81 percent of these beautiful public lands near Moab available to ORV use via a dense web of "designated routes." The result is that it is nearly impossible for other recreationists to escape the sight and sound of motorized vehicles, even though the vast majority of visitors do not ride ORVs.

Patty Henetz

Attorneys for San Juan County and the state of Utah said Friday that they have proven the Salt Creek road in Canyonlands National Park was used continuously by the public from 1949 to 1998 and, therefore, should be open to Jeeps, all-terrain vehicles and other motorized travel.

Federal attorneys disputed the evidence as dated and unreliable and said that, in any case, the county hadn't filed its road claim in time to beat a statute-of-limitations deadline.

Patrick Reis

House Democrats say they may finally have the support to pass a massive Utah wilderness bill they have pushed for two decades, but if they do, it will be despite concerns from the White House and furious opposition from Utah's congressional delegation.

H.R. 1925 would designate more than 9 million acres as protected wilderness -- including Desolation Canyon, the Grand Staircase-Escalante area and Glen Canyon. The bill, first introduced in 1989, had its first hearing in Congress since 1995 yesterday in the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee.