Important Updates January 1, 2026 Thank you to so many of you that expressed support for fighting to keep this key access route available to BLM lands in Virgin, and especially to those that have donated to help us with legal costs. If you’d like to sign up for updates or to make a donation, please click here.
We’re making progress on several fronts. I had a meeting this week with our new Executive Director Mike LaMar, the Virgin Town Manager, the Washington County Attorney’s Office, and the PLPCO Asst. Attorney General for Washington County to discuss not only the legal challenges with closing access to BLM land, but also a handful of alternate options for continued access. The purpose of this meeting was not to push for any decisions, but to explore options, and it met that objective. During the meeting, the Town Manager agreed to have the No Trespassing signs removed. PLPCO also made it clear that the State will insist that vehicular access to BLM land be continued. One of the keys we all agreed on is that our best option is settle the matter without the need for litigation.
To preserve our legal rights, I filed our formal appeal with the Town of Virgin for their land use decision jointly with Utah Public Lands Alliance and BlueRibbon Coalition. BlueRibbon’s support is key in this as they are more experienced than any other group in fighting for access to public lands, including through litigation when necessary. You can see our Notice of Appeal and Exhibits here while will give a complete background on both the history and our legal position.
Our intent is to continue negotiations while the Town Appeal is pending, with success we hope to be able to dismiss the Appeal.
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Loren Campbell
President@UtahPLA.com
