End of the road for Salt Creek trial

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.

The sides made their closing arguments in a trial that has spanned three weeks and included a vehicular and airborne site visit Tuesday to help U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins make his decision, which will come later in writing.

The fight over the rugged route, which is largely a stream bottom in the Needles section of the park on the way to Angel Arch, has pitted off-highway-vehicle enthusiasts, the county and the state against the National Park Service and conservation organizations.

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance successfully sued the park service to close the route to off-roaders due to environmental damage, a decision the park service made provisionally in 1998 and finalized in 2003.

San Juan County sued to reopen a 7.5-mile stretch under Revised Statute 2477, an old mining law that granted rights of way across public land. Congress repealed the statute in 1976, but existing claims were grandfathered in, leading to a series of road-ownership disputes that must be argued road by road in federal court.

The state intervened, arguing the county owned the road partly because it had been in general use even before the park's designation in 1964.

The route crisscrosses Salt Creek, the third-largest source of water in the park. A spur canyon leads to Angel Arch, a popular destination for park visitors. The county wants the entire route open to motor vehicles.

Shawn Welch, attorney for the county, argued that because homesteaders, miners, ranchers, cowboys and Jeeps have used the road for 100 years, that's enough evidence to prove the route ought to be a state or county road.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Bernard said that the route is 89 percent in the streambed, and driving up it in the past doesn't mean it should be opened to motorized traffic, especially since the park service claims exclusive federal right to deny that access. 

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Source: http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=13603193&siteId=297

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