Unraveling what’s happening with Offroading in Moab

There have been many confusing and conflicting reports of the alarming actions in Moab and media posts about off roading in Moab.  UPLA takes restrictions to off road access very seriously, so we went to one of our Trustees, Melissa Fischer, to get the answers. Melissa not only lives in Moab, but is very active in the off road community.

She began adding to her personal knowledge by calling Chris Baird, the Administrator for the Grand County Commission, where Moab is located. This commission is the body responsible for issuing special event permits. He explained to her that there are several separate issues that happened simultaneously that impacted permits.

The first issue involved special event permit registration caps related to COVID. All events that had been permitted are currently able to be held. Based on the state’s COVID transmission level, there are guidelines that Grand county adopted in consultation with the SE Utah Health Department. When Utah is in a High Transmission status, there are no indoor events that could be held in Grand County and outdoor events were restricted to 250 people PER DAY for all locations. If the Transmission status was lowered to a moderate category, that number increases to 1000 per day outdoor and adds 500 per day indoors. It was because of these restrictions that Red Rock 4 Wheelers announced the cancellation of EJS.

After hearing an interview with Chris Baird on Fox 13 where Chris made an offer to try to draft an amendment to the ordinance that would allow 250 people at each separate location for off road events,  UPLA Trustee Melissa Fischer and President Gil Meacham leaped into action. They contacted Mike Kelso, President of Red Rock 4 Wheelers, and Chris Baird to find a common solution that would allow EJS to be held, at least on a limited basis. Quickly we found common ground, and UPLA put Chris and Mike together to drafting an amendment to the Ordinance that allowed 250 people per location. That amendment was quickly drafted and Fast Tracked to get the EJS permit approved by County Commissioners on February 16. The amendment passed with 100% of the commissioner’s approval, and EJS 2021 was back on the calendar!

The second major issue is directly related to ATVs or rock crawlers that have an ATV plate. Last Fall, the County received a “historical number of citizen complaints, mostly related to noise impacts of ATV rentals and tours, many of them specifically during the Rally on the Rocks event.” It should also be noted that most of these complaints involved complaints on Moab city streets, not on trails. In response to these complaints, Grand County and City of Moab voted on October 20, 2020 to pass Resolution 3245 creating a joint temporary moratorium that bans new licenses issued for ATV sales and leasing, rentals, guide services, outfitters, and guide services. It has nothing to do with modified, street legal jeeps nor does it prevent UTV use on county roads (if street legal). The moratorium also prevents the issuance of special event permits. This moratorium will exist for 180 days and then it expires. It is the county’s goal to have a redraft of the land use code in Grand County (not public lands) in place before the moratorium expires. We have no information on what the redraft will look like or at what level it will permanently impact the ATV or off-roading community and businesses, but promise to update you as we get information.

UPLA is very concerned about any restrictions or limits placed on all types of motorized use of public lands. It should be noted that even in these recent events, motorized access on public lands and trails was not restricted, the actions were focused on what happens on Moab city limits and streets.

Just like the work UPLA did to put EJS back on the calendar, we will continue to work to preserve and protect access to public lands by all motorized traffic, 4x4s, ATVs, UTVs, Motorcycles, and Snowmobiles. We will also work to improve our education of Tread Lightly and “Good Neighbor” policies amongst all off road users. Help us spread the word to all your Off Roading Family.