Promoting Alternatives to a Motorized Utah

September 20, 2007

Laurel Hagen is nurturing a fledgling rural con servation movement in small southern Utah towns as Wildlands CPR’s Utah Coordinator, based in Moab.

Despite the lack of larger population centers, Laurel is finding a receptive audience. She suspects that this pushback is a reaction to area county commissions promoting off-road vehicle events and “mega-routes” at the expense of both rural lifestyles. The growing number of residents and visitors who are in the area to backpack, rock climb, mountain bike and pursue other self-propelled activities is another factor.

Organizations and volunteers are taking a similar tack throughout several areas Laurel is working. Groups are fanning out across the rugged landscape to document damage to off-road vehicle hot spots as well as threats to treasured areas. This field work supports substantive comments to the Forest Service and compelling reasons for residents to advocacate for sensible recreation and transportation management.

The Boulder Mountain area in the Dixie National Forest serves as a case study for grassroots sup port for better management. The Garfield County Commission has aggres sively pushed ATV events and motorized routes, adopting plans for routes on Boulder Mountain that would connect to the infamous Paiute Trail and proposing to host an ATV jamboree. However, leery of the damage to rural culture that could be caused by becoming an unsustainable off-road vehicle destination, the Boulder town council voted to reject these plans. Members of the local Alliance for the Escalante River Basin are supporting this popular position by getting out in the field to document off-road vehicle abuses.

On the Manti-La Sal National Forest, unauthorized individuals have been building ATV routes using a bulldozer. Laurel is supporting the efforts of Red Rock Forests and the Great Old Broads for Wilderness as they monitor such illegal behavior , as well as the Canyon Country Heritage Associa tion’s attempts to protect ancient Indian ruins across Cedar Mesa from illegal route-building.

On the Ashley National Forest, the Vernal-based Uinta Mountain Club has participated in the county’s collaboration process with a diverse group who worked together to identify appealing trails for non-motorized recreation, as well as appropriate motorized routes. Unfortunately, the county commission is now trying to modify these collaborative agreements. We’ll continue to work with pro-conservation folks on the Ashley, Dixie and Manti-La Sal National Forests to resist such heavy-handed approaches taken by their respective county commissions.