Utah

Guy Wheelwright

Sen. Orrin Hatch states that he thinks Utahns would be very upset if people from the East dictated the tie-up of our lands ("Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance: Environmental hard-liners weigh value of compromise," Tribune , May 25). He's right.

I was born in Utah and am descended from one of the original pioneers. Hatch was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and has spent the majority of his life outside Utah. Yes, I am upset. Upset with Hatch and his buddy Sen. Bob Bennett. I love Utah with all my heart and will do everything I can to protect it from the destruction and abuse of industry, pseudo sportsmen and out-of-touch senators.

Generous limits (thumb up) » Reining in all-terrain-vehicle users on public land is a tough challenge for land-management agencies. But it's a challenge they have to take up if our outdoor recreation treasures are to be saved from plunder by irresponsible ATVers. So we applaud the Dixie National Forest plan to eliminate unrestricted use of ATVs in the forest. The plan generously designates 2,700 miles of ATV roads and trails throughout the nearly 2 million acres of forest land in southern Utah. That seems more than fair for motorized recreationists, who share the area with hikers, cyclists and horseback riders who should be able to enjoy the outdoors in peace.

Paul Rolly

Former Utah Attorney General David Wilkinson lost his bid for re-election two decades ago partly because voters rebelled against his decision to spend about $2 million of their taxpayer money in a futile attempt to defend in federal court an unconstitutional law that regulated the content of subscription cable TV.

A similar grumbling occurred when the state spent another million dollars or so a few years later to defend a clearly unconstitutional law banning abortions.

Kathy Osborne Draper

I am responding to the letter "Reporter bias" (Forum, May 14), which stated that all-terrain-vehicle riders are "people who have a great love and respect of the outdoors." My husband and I often hike with friends in the Cedar Mesa area of southern Utah. We are careful to "take only pictures, and leave only footprints."

We view these places to be living museums to the point that we avoid stepping on cryptobiotic soils, which are living organisms. Everywhere we hike in this incredible, vast and sacred place, we meet ATV tracks. Most are off-trail and have trampled small plants and dug up rocks and soils, even cryptobiotic soil that takes years to repair itself.

Mike Stark

SALT LAKE CITY- A new plan for Dixie National Forest released on Tuesday eliminates unrestricted off-trail travel for motorized vehicles and instead designates some 2,700 miles of routes for ATVs and other vehicles.

The plan is part of a national effort to help federal officials better manage an increasing number of off-road vehicles in the national forests and limit the effects on the natural environment.

Shirley Clements

The Fond du Lac County Board is aware that ATVs cause limestone trail damage even in winter.

It is aware the Dodge County Wild Goose Trail has winter ATV activity problems - trail damage, trespassing and speeding. Yet the board will be voting to make ATVs permanent on the new Eisenbahn Trail, a trail not built or intended for ATVs.

Rebecca Walsh

What a tight spot.

U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman is caught between the political aspirations he doesn't acknowledge and the rule of law he talks so much about.

A small land-access drama is playing out in Utah right now, in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. A (very) long story short — the Paria Canyon area within the Monument had a town in the late 1800s, which had a half-dirt road, half-path through a canyon riverbed leading up to it. Off-Road Vehicle types used to use this old route while the Bureau of Land Management sat idly by. In 1996, President Clinton declared the area a National Monument, and officially closed Paria Canyon to motorized traffic. Bush got into office, and significantly relaxed environmental protections, allowing the off-roaders to tear through the canyon’s riverbed for 8 years. Obama got into office, and the now-effectual Secretary of the Interior decided to actually enforce the wilderness laws that would protect the route. The locals get mad and file a lawsuit, which does not go in their favor. The locals get mad and, egged on by their local Congressman, host a faux-teaparty style protest, leading a large group of ORV’s down the canyon in full-view of counter-protesters and BLM officials because, you know, America and freedom and the flag and stuff.

Amy Joi O'Donoghue

Off-road protesters fearing a road closure in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument hit the dirt last weekend in a moment of solidarity to demonstrate that the Paria River corridor should not be the road less traveled.

Now, they say, even though the Bureau of Land Management made no effort to stop them in an area where there were no off-limits signs, photographs of license plates were taken to be used as evidence for possible criminal prosecution.