ATV plan aimed at protecting wildlands

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.

“Recreational vehicle use is coming at us fast and hard,” said Bob Turri of the off-roading group San Juan Public Entry & Access Rights. It’s equally important to protect the landscape and to offer access, he said. “If you don’t provide for the users, they’ll provide for themselves.”

Over the past 15 years, that’s exactly what happened as motorcyclists and ATV riders randomly expanded by 40 percent the trail network on the two blocks of SITLA land, according to a state analysis of 1990s county trail surveys. Now those riders will encounter “aggressive signage,” SITLA says, along with some barriers and, with the help of several rider groups, a healthy dose of peer pressure.

“There’s always going to be some rogues, I’m sure,” said Larry Sorrell, a Monticello rancher and ATV rider who helped upgrade some of the trails for erosion control. But with proper signage, he expects, people will stick to official routes. No scenery in the area — no yellow fall aspen foliage, deer and elk or alpine ski slopes — will be shielded from the trails.

SITLA doesn’t track ridership on these lands, but officials estimated it’s in the tens of thousands annually. A lot of that occurs during hunting season. Sorrell doesn’t hunt anymore, but comes back for the vistas that stretch out from treeline to the red-rock desert.

“It’s America,” he said. “It’s the ultimate, signature land of America.”

Trail riders themselves are putting up trailhead signs limiting single-track trails to motorcycles, horses, bicycles and the like, instead of four-wheelers. Two-tracks will accommodate larger vehicles. The Moab-based group Ride With Respect is adding stickers that ask motorized riders to keep off of certain trails within three hours of sunrise and sunset during hunting season to minimize conflicts.

“This isn’t a rule. It’s a suggestion,” said Clif Koontz, the group’s program director.

That spirit of cooperation is what the state is banking on to protect natural resources, whether they generate revenues for state schools or not. The La Sal Mountain lands make money largely from aspen logging contracts and grazing leases, but officials say federal off-road restrictions have pushed more use toward state lands. They want to protect the lands for future uses.

“We are seeing more and more resource degradation here,” SITLA assistant director and project coordinator Kim Christy said.

So far SITLA has spent $241,000 on this trails pro-ject, Christy said, and it’s unclear how much the next few years will cost. Most of the money comes from the $1.50 annual registration fee paid by off-road vehicle owners.

“Even though our mandate is to generate revenues,” SITLA director Kevin Carter said, “we also recognize a stewardship responsibility.”

The state owns about 60 blocks of land as large as these, Carter said, and he hopes lessons learned here will lead to management plans statewide.

“All of them need this kind of care,” he said.

Greg Miller, chief executive of the Larry H. Miller Group, appeared at the kiosk unveiling and showed off a family photograph from a 1978 off-road camping trip into Canyonlands National Park. His father, the late car dealer and Utah Jazz owner, was cooking hot dogs. “This is one of my cherished memories.”

Greg Miller said he supports a cooperative approach to land management and hopes it promotes responsible use that enables future generations to enjoy what he has.

“It’s important to me to keep these lands open,” he said.

SITLA won’t police its trail system, which leaves riders free to keep breaking trail if they ignore the signs. But

Ted Wilson, environmental adviser to Gov. Gary Herbert, said the honor system is appropriate on many state lands.

“We couldn’t have enough people to [patrol the trails],” Wilson said, “and we don’t want to make people criminals.”

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Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50412929-76/riders-state-trails-lands.html.csp

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