Comments are due to BLM by December 16, See bottom of article for how to submit your comments

The Environmental Assessment for the Land Exchange that will affect the West side of the Sand Mountain OHV/SMRA has been released, and we need your comments submitted by December 16. See the bottom of this page to see how to submit your comments. In the Scoping period in this plan, 1476 comments were received, but only 30 were deemed “substantive”. It is critical for not only this plan, but all land actions, that we work to make our comments “substantive” to be recognized. Here’s a short tip sheet on substantive comments

UPLA’s Natural Resource Consultant, Rose Winn, will review comments that are emailed to her by December 14 and work to tailor them so they are considered “substantive” Let’s take advantage of this opportunity and turn the tide on submitting comments that are counted.  See the details at the bottom of this article for more on submitting your comments.

What’s the current situation?

The original location of the Exchange would have included transfer of the area 200’ east of the Toilet on Pipeline road all the way to Long Valley (marked by Orange line on map), this would have impacted all of West Rim Trail in addition to other areas. Through the joint efforts by UPLA and Washington County Water Conservancy District (WCWCD), we were able to get BLM to reduce the size of the Exchange by moving the boundary about 500’ west (new boundary marked by Blue Line) This reduced the size of the Exchange by 234 acres. Click Here to See the Map

UPLA and other OHV leaders have been working with WCWCD since 2023 to arrive at agreements to be incorporated into the Exchange. WCWCD has already agreed with a Board Resolution to most of the conditions, and we are currently working with them to add some additional clarity now that the EA has been released. Click here to view the WCWCD Original Resolution (in Bold)  as well as the additional items we are working to add in italics.

There is a lot of pressure to make this Exchange happen. Because there is little question that the Exchange will have a Negative impact for OHV, UPLA’s position is that we although we are generally opposed to the Plan, but with mitigations that will protect most OHV in the area, we would be accepting of the Exchange because of the value of the Reservoir and related recreation around it. We are opposed to the Exchange if the land is not used for this purpose. We are asking that the EA be withdrawn and resubmitted for public comments once they complete significant additional evaluations.

What we need you to comment on:

• How have you used the Exchange Land personally? What trails have you used, for how long, by yourself, families or groups, how often? Have you used the dispersed camping area in Long Valley/Washington Dam, why you use it, how often? Who have you used it with? Have you participated in maintenance or cleanups of the area in the past to retain its natural beauty? If the dispersed camping area in Long Valley is no longer available, where would you go and how would affect your visits? What types of vehicles do you use to recreate in the Exchange area? What other concerns do you have? Some of the Dispersed camping along Pipeline Road will also likely be affected, if you’ve used that, please add your comments about that as well.
• An alternative that was also not explored in the EA was the possibility of adding other areas to the SRMA for Open OHV. If you have specific suggestions for alternatives for either dispersed camping or OHV, please mention those.
• We are concerned that BLM only addressed that the Intended Use of the EA is limited to development of the land as a Reservoir, (Reference Section 3.2 of the EA for this) A Reservoir will provide not only water needs, but also will provide an alternate form of recreation. Although the Reservoir is the most likely use, there is significant chance that they will elect not to build the Reservoir. If that decision is made, we are very concerned that other types of development such as residential or housing will create unwelcome consequences for the area, such as user conflicts between homeowners and OHV. There are ways that this concern can be mitigated, but the fact that they were not evaluated in the EA means resulted in those consequences not being considered. Submission of comments that express concern for Exchange land being used for any other purpose than Recreation, and that the EA is Inadequate because it failed to analyze this important, and not unlikely, future consequence.
• We know that some of the trails on the East side of Long Valley are used extensively by Dirt Bikers frequently. We really need comments from the Dirt Bike/Mountain Bike community.
• Your comments should be specific to your personal interests or experiences and should cite the EA whenever possible. Always include as many of the tips above about your specific concerns, including as many of the details as possible. some of the details above.
• Be sure to mention in your comments if you are a Member of BlueRibbon Coalition or Utah Public Lands Alliance

How do you submit comments?

If you would like to have UPLA’s Natural Resource Consultant review your comments first and work to ensure they are considered substantive, please email them to Rose@UtahPLA.com If you want this review, you should send your comments to her no later than December 14. You will still need to report your comments directly to BLM

Comments should be submitted on the BLM EPlanning Website https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022389/510 It may take a moment when you get to the site, but you should see a Green Participate Now button. If you don’t see it, click on the How to Get Involved link and wait for the Green Participate Now Button to appear on the page.

Other References:

BLM Draft EA with Highlights of Significant Sections (To see the highlights, you’ll need to download the file and open with Adobe Reader)

UPLA Significant Notes on Draft EA

UPLA Comments on EA-Expect to see this on Friday after our next meeting with WCWCD

Utah Public Lands Alliance has been fighting for access to our public lands since 2014, and our efforts have been gaining fruit. Our list of accomplishments is long, but it’s important to realize We Can’t Do It Without You. We need both your voice and your donations, and during the end of 2024 we would like you to consider giving generously to not only sustain, but to accelerate our progress.

Loren Campbell conducted an interview with Steve Radmall, UPLA’s Certified Public Accountant, to discuss tax advantages and donating to UPLA. The subjects discussed included the following topics:

• Are all donations to UPLA deductible?
• Explain the Standard Deduction allowance, and strategies to maximize tax savings
• Donor Advised Funds as a strategy to plan giving for the future, and get a deduction this year
• Double Tax benefits for donating appreciated assets (stocks)
• Qualified Charitable Distributions from IRAs

UPLA is proud of what we’ve accomplished, but we need your support to continue and accelerate our progress. We are grateful for any size or type of donationUPLA is always grateful for every donation of any size. Utah Public Lands Alliance is a IRS recognized 501©3 non profit and donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by current IRS regulations.

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Since our inception in 2014, UPLA has been fighting for access by all responsible users on our public lands. Although we initially focused primarily on Washington County and Sand Mountain, in the last 2 years we expanded our efforts to include the entire state and other forms of outdoor recreation. We focused on building and strengthening partnerships with others, and educating our supporters and followers about how to make a difference in keeping our public lands open.

We are proud of our achievements to protect and improve access for not only motorized off highway vehicles but all outdoor recreationists, some of our most notable accomplishments are indicated in bold.

• Launched December 2024-Our Natural Resource Consultant will assist users in reviewing and recommending changes to make their public comments on land actions “Substantive”
• Completed IRS Conversion from a Private Foundation to a Public Charity. When UPLA was originally formed in 2014, major startup funding came from just a couple founding members, which made it a Private Foundation. All donations were tax deductible, but we could not receive donations from certain sources such as Charitable Trusts or Donor Advised Funds. We began operating as a Public Charity in that our revenue came from grassroots sources, but we never made the switch to being regarded as a Public Charity, We became aware of this in 2023, and began the transition and were just recently approved to be regarded as a Public Charity. Since that approval, we have began getting donations from an increased variety of sources that were unavailable to us before.
• Recommended, justified, wrote grant, and installed 2 state of the art composting toilets on Sand Mountain
• Organized Sand Mountain maintenance project with 150 4×4 and OHV users working together for 2 days installing trail signs and cleaning up dump sites on the perimeter of the BLM land. We also achieved TV Coverage for this event.
• Designed, fabricated, funded and installed Sand Hollow Trail Head Signs on all major trails
• Designed, fabricated, funded and installed Obstacle signs on major obstacles on Sand Mountain
• Worked with BLM to create detailed maps and information panels for 6 kiosks on Sand Mountain
• Obtained approval and installed the Top of the World signpost on Sand Mountain
• Created a website with over 1000 gpx tracks in Utah and surrounding states
• Wrote and supported the App used by St George Jeepers to schedule and promote their weekly trail runs
• Wrote and supported the App used by the Winter Jamboree Trail Guides
• Kevin Keller was interviewed on Fox13 in Moab to speak out against the 317 miles of land closures
• Launched TrailSaver.com, the first effort to collect trail and route information details at the time users run the trails, then return their notes when they are needed for a Travel Management Action
• Assisted with creation of Waddy’s Corral, a 5 acre staging area to replace the Water Tanks staging area which had become woefully too small for the traffic.
• Assisted with paving Water Tank Road to accommodate increased traffic
• Liaison with Utah State Parks and DNR Law Enforcement to decrease exorbitant rates now being charged to Events using Sand Hollow State Park
• Led campaign to protect OHV on West side of Sand Mountain as a result of the proposed Land Exchange benefiting Washington County Water Control District-We Need Your Help On This One Now
• Participated in numerous cleanups of trash being dumped on perimeters of public lands
• Obtained Access Protection Grant from Utah DNR to support funding for our Natural Resource Consultant
• Obtained Grant from Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative to protect Flintstone House on Sand Mountain
• Liaison established with Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office
• Increased size of Board of Trustees to include wider geographic representation and more diverse outdoor recreation activities
• Increased our Follower base on social media over 400%
• Engaged with Utah Legislature on numerous bills affecting use of public lands
• Participated with DNR OHV program for media creation
• Organized and cosponsored NEPA Advanced Training Workshop with BlueRibbon and SLOREX
• Constant Coordination with BlueRibbon Coalition on actions affecting public lands
• Donated $103,316 to BlueRibbon Coalition for Legal Support
• Participated on countless podcasts and Zoom interviews
• Recognition by Western Priorities as one of 6 members of the National Monuments Disinformation Brigade
• Presentations of Major Legal Battle Wins at Family Motor Coach Association 4 Wheelers and at NMRAC meeting
• Hired Professional Natural Resource Consultant to supercharge our efforts at creating substantive and extensive comments. We submitted comments on:
  • Moab Travel Management Plan
  • Manti LaSal National Forest
  • San Rafael Swell Scoping and Draft EA Travel Management Plan
  • Henry Mountains Preliminary and Draft EA Travel Management Plan
  • Bears Ears Recreation Management Plan
  • Dolores River Preliminary Comments
  • BLM Land Conservation Rule
  • Red Cliffs Warner Valley Land Exchange
  • Western Solar Plan
• We participated in the following events/meetings to spread our message
  • UTV Takeover
  • OHV Day on the Hill (Legislative)
  • Big 20 Ride
  • Trail Hero
  • Winter 4×4 Jamboree
  • Iron Country OHV
  • Salt Lake Off Road Expo
  • SxS Adventure Rally on the Rocks
  • Outlaw ATV Jamboree
  • Vernal Rock Rally
  • Castle Country 4×4 Club Meeting
  • Tri State ATV Club Meetings
  • UT/AZ ATV Club Meeting
  • Bryce Canyon Recreation Council
  • BLM Blueprint Conference
  • House Congressional Hearing in St George
  • Barracks Trail Ride with UT/AZ ATV Club and BLM
  • Matt’s Offroad Wrecker Games
  • North American Motorized Recreation Council Meeting

Our major new goals for 2025:

• Continue major financial support for BlueRibbon Coalition
• Publish a Utah OHV Impact Study to be completed by a major Utah University, the first one done since 2008 to analyze the benefits of OHV
• Further expansion of Board of Trustees to include Mountain Biking and Equestrian interest
• Hire a professional Executive Director to further expand our reach and effectiveness

If you remember back in early 2023, we launched a campaign to take action on a Land Exchange proposed between BLM and the Washington County Water Control District (the District) that would have affected trails on the West Rim section of Sand Mountain and the Washington Dam Staging and Camping area.

OHV community leaders from Desert Roads and Trails Society, BlueRibbon Coalition, Trail Hero, Casey’s Offroad Recovery, Tri State ATV Club, and Utah Public Lands Alliance had already been engaged for several months, but we knew we needed widespread support from the community.

Matt’s Offroad Recovery and Trail Hero launched wide reaching campaigns to inform our community and were supported by countless other groups to encourage the public to show up at a BLM Public Meeting scheduled in just 4 days. You responded to our pleas, and on a rainy Tuesday night, 620 of you showed up at the St George Public Library. The crowd was overflowing, and many of you stood outside in the rain waiting to get in. TV and news crews showed up to cover the meeting and the massive turnout. This outpouring of support set the stage for how serious you were in protecting Sand Mountain, and strongly aided the efforts by leaders to negotiate effectively with not only BLM, but the Washington County Water Conservancy District (the District), City of Washington, and the City of Hurricane.

Early on, we got a commitment from BLM that whatever agreements we made with the District would be incorporated into the EA. After several weeks of negotiation, the District’s Board unanimously voted to adopt a Resolution documenting our agreements.

Last Friday, BLM  issued its Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) on the Exchange. There were 1116 comments received from the public that clearly demonstrated the concern for protecting that area, with 30 of those comments being deemed substantive. I am glad to report that the EA addressed nearly all of the areas we brought up in our comments. At the end of this article are links to all the referenced documents in case you’d like to review them now.

Yesterday, the same OHV leaders met again with the District to finalize some additional details we would like included in their resolution. The reception to the suggestions was warm, and a followup meeting scheduled in 2 weeks to review their conclusions.

The project is not over, and this is where we need your help again. The Draft EA is merely a document that outlines BLM’s assessment of all the factors surrounding the Exchange. We need the community to once again get engaged in submitting comments on the EA before December 16^th to be considered before BLM releases their Final Decision.

As mentioned earlier, there were 1116 comments submitted during the Scoping period which clearly demonstrated the degree of concern, but only 30 of them were deemed substantive. We may not like the “Substantive” standard, but it is incorporated into Federal Law, CFR Title 40, Part 1503. For this comment period, we want it to be an exercise in submitting comments that meet the requirements of being “Substantive” under the law. Completing this exercise successfully will also pave the way for us to be more effective in future land management actions. Make sure that you are either a UPLA Member or Subscribe to ensure you get all the information on this important subject.

If you would like help getting your comments to be considered “Substantive”, send your comments to StopSandMountain@gmail.com and Rose, our Natural Resource Consultant will try to help you.

If you’re ready to submit your comments  Visit this EPlanning Website

Attachments:

Washington County Water District Resolution and Map
Draft EA with Highlights on Significant Items
Abbreviated EA with Highlighted Section of Draft EA
Summary of Comments from Draft EA Appendix D
Comments Details-Complete Listing

BlueRibbon Coalition is expanding its efforts to increase accessibility for disabled members of the American public. It sometimes feels like anti-access organizations have unlimited resources to enforce discriminatory restrictions against those with disabilities. For a growing number of public land users, motorized access is the only way for those with mobility impairment physical disabilities to access public land. We believe that the goals of conservation stewardship and recreational use can be responsibly and equitably harmonized and champion the responsible use of public lands for the benefit of all recreationists, including those whose only means to outdoor recreation is through the use of an OHV due to disability.

Learn more about how you can help BlueRibbon Coalition achieve equity for disabled Americans.

Half of all federal land in Utah is being illegally held by the federal government, which should dispose of it, the state argued in a Supreme Court original jurisdiction complaint filed Tuesday.

If the court takes the case and Utah wins, the legal action has the potential to completely upend the US’s system of public lands, jeopardizing the 245 million acres of land under the control of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management.

Each of the 11 Western states and Alaska have vast amounts of federal land within their borders. Nevada has the most, with 80% of its land under federal ownership. Utah, which is 69% federally-owned, is the only state to ask the Supreme Court to force that land out of federal hands.

“The BLM has increasingly failed to keep these lands accessible and appears to be pursuing a course of active closure and restriction,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said in a statement.

Utah, which in 2012 passed a state law demanding the federal government give its BLM land to the state, claims that 18.5 million acres of “unappropriated” federal land is being illegally held by the US, and it must be disposed of. The federal government ignored the law.

Perpetual federal retention of unappropriated public lands in Utah is unconstitutional and is depriving the state of collecting taxes on that land, the ability to exercise eminent domain there, the right to develop it, and exercise policing powers, the state claims in its complaint.

“Nothing in the Constitution authorizes the United States to hold vast unreserved swathes of Utah’s territory in perpetuity, over Utah’s express objection, without even so much as a pretense of using those lands in the service of any enumerated power,” the state claims.

About 37.4 million acres of land in Utah is federally-owned, and of that, roughly half is “unappropriated,” or land the US is “simply holding, without reserving it for any designated purpose or is using it to execute any of its enumerated powers,” Utah said in its filing.

Utah said it’s challenging only unappropriated BLM land, not any federal land reserved by Congress or the president as national parks, conservation areas, military reservations, or for other uses.

Article Published by Bobby Magill, Reporter for Bloomberg Law August 20, 2024

Read the Lawsuit Here No.-___-Bill-of-Complaint-and-Brief-in-Support