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.

UPLA got involved today and may have paved a path for EJS to be held for 2021.

UPLA Trustee Melissa Fischer started 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.

The principal issue is regarding special event permit registration caps related to COVID. Based on the state’s COVID transmission level, there are guidelines that Grand County has adopted based on the SE Utah Health Department recommendations.  SE Utah is in a High Transmission status, meaning there can be no indoor events and outdoor events are restricted to 250 people PER DAY for all locations.

According to an interview with Chris Baird, Grand County Commission Administrator, with Fox 13 today, Chris made an offer to Red Rock 4 Wheelers to draft an amendment to the ordinance that would allow 250 people at each dispersed location. He indicated that the amendment would still have to be approved by the Commission through public forums.

This morning, UPLA President Gil Meacham spoke with Red Rock’s President, Mike Kelso. Mike was unaware of Chris Baird’s offer to work on revising the ordinance. and confirmed that if that was done,  Red Rock was willing to do the event with Trail Runs and limited other activities.

A subsequent phone call by Melissa and Gil with Chris Baird also was very productive. Chris indicated that if Red Rock wished to proceed, that he could draft an amendment and with  Fast Tracking they could get approval by February 16. He also confirmed that he felt the amendment  was likely to be approved by the Commission. Another phone call with Mike Kelso confirmed that if approval was granted by February 16  Easter Jeep Safari 2021 would proceed! We put Mike and Chris in touch with each other.

Bottom line is this morning Easter Jeep Safari for this year was cancelled. Through the active collaboration of UPLA, County Administrator Chris Baird, and Red Rock 4 Wheelers, it appears there is now a path for EJS to continue this year.

This is a developing story with information changing rapidly. In the meantime, we urge you to check accuracy of information you post on this subject and to check back with UPLA for further updates.

Update, Just In: The Grand County Commission administrator has requested that EJS attendees, RR4W members, and the 4-wheeling community send letters to the county commission in support of the amendment to allow 250 participants at each dispersed location. Please send via email to: commission@grandcountyutah.net

Written by Mikayla Shoup
St George News

ST. GEORGE — The Bureau of Land Management recently purchased a $5 million parcel of land from a private landowner in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.

The Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, Washington County, Utah.
Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management, St. George News

The purchase of the 113-acre property, located within the boundaries of both the Washington County Mojave desert tortoise mitigation reserve and the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, was closed on Aug. 15.

The purchase was made as part of the BLM’s efforts to consolidate land within the conservation area. Currently, the land is under “checkboard ownership,” meaning that the conservation area is owned by a number of private parties and government agencies.

“What we’re looking at doing is to consolidate the land ownership within the Red Cliffs NCA, which allows for us to continue the conservation stewardship and partnership with local communities, specifically Washington County,” BLM spokesperson Christian Venhuizen told St. George News.

According to the agency, having the land belong to multiple sources can make it more difficult to successfully protect the habitat of the Mojave desert tortoise, which was placed on the Federal Endangered Species List in 1989.

Currently, the BLM owns nearly 45,000 acres of the over 61,000-acre conservation area, while over 13,000 acres are owned by the state and 2,631 acres are still owned by private parties, according to the BLM’s annual manager’s report.

In 2016, the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area Record of Decision and Resource Management Plan made it so that the BLM could legally acquire private inholdings from willing property owners in order to better conserve the habitat. This can be done through trade or by purchase at market value from willing landowners.

“We’re able to ensure that the stewardship and the values within the national conservation area is maintained and provide for the resources,” Venhuizen said.

The Red Cliffs National Conservation Area was first established in 2009 as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 with the intention of providing a safe habitat for the tortoises and to give the community an outdoor recreation area.

The $5 million parcel was purchased using money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is allowed through a recent reauthorization in the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act in March.

Bi-partisan legislation has been introduced in both the House and the Senate that would make recreation on public lands a higher priority for the federal government. S. 1967, introduced in the Senate by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and H.R. 3458, introduced in the House by Reps. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) would do the following:

Simplifies procedures for the issuance of recreational permits by setting time limits for the processing of such permits; reduces fees; mandates online purchases; and provides for the issuance of a single joint permit for multijurisdictional trips
Directs federal land agencies to make recreation a priority when making land and water management decisions
Encourages the use of volunteers in trail maintenance including the creation of uniform interagency trail maintenance standards for trails the cross agency jurisdictional boundaries
Seeks to enhance coordination between federal and state recreation agencies and allows for the purchase of a state(s) and federal recreation pass with one transaction
This legislation is widely supported by a diverse group of recreation organizations, motorized and non-motorized, including ARRA. Despite this strong support, it’s critical that we secure more co-sponsors for the legislation in both the House and Senate. Will you do your part by writing to your Representative and your Senators requesting their co-sponsorship of these respective bills?

The ARRA Action Center makes it easy for you to reach out to Congress. Take a few minutes now and send an important message to your elected representatives on Capitol Hill.

Respond Here

The Natural Resources Management Act was passed by the Senate the morning of February 12, 2019.

It’s not too late to stop it in the House, and we encourage motorized and mechanized (bicycle) users to contact their representatives to say they oppose restricting access around the San Rafael Swell.

The main reason Emery County Commissioners and Governor Herbert support the bill is it consolidates over 64,000 acres of School Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA) property that is currently spread out across Emery County. Developing the consolidated land could generate at least $50 million. Such consolidation has been achieved many other times without having to designate 10 acres of wilderness for every 1 acre of SITLA land, which is what happened here.

We feel that the Governor’s and Commissioners’ support of the bill is very short sighted, because putting over 642,000 acres around the San Rafael Swell into Wilderness designation will close 73 miles of county Class D primitive roads plus other motorized trails. The loss of future OHV revenue from these 642,000 acres dwarfs the one-time revenue of $50 million from consolidating those other 64,000 acres. Decision makers likely undervalued the 642,000 acres and 73 miles because they didn’t consider the OHV revenue potential.

The San Rafael Swell is a beautiful area. The land is rugged and vast, with historic travel routes winding through magnificent mesas. For many years, it has been enjoyed by families traveling by horse, 4x4s, ATVs, bikes, and foot. Travel in the San Rafael Swell is currently restricted to “Designated Routes Only” so it is already legally protected. Wilderness is restricted to “Non-mechanized Use Only” and thus limits access to only elite hikers.

For a more detailed analysis of the bill, go to www.SageRidersMC.com/land-use-issues.html.

On February 11th, 2019, Senator Mike Lee wrote an article for the Deseret News titled “This bill is not the right move for Utah lands.” Here are a few key points Senator Lee Makes in that article:

The bill fails to reform federal land acquisition programs, and reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) which has not been implemented consistent with the original intention of the fund.

The bill adds new restrictions on land already under federal control and protection.

The bill creates another 1.3 million acres of Wilderness in the West, over half [642,000 acres] in Utah.

Wilderness designation limits far more activities than required to actually protect the land.

Wilderness designation prohibits almost all activity, including all commercial activity, all infrastructure development, and any travel by car or bicycle.

This bill does nothing to address the imminent threat to Utah from unilateral executive land grabs through the Antiquities Act. Other western states have this protection. All that would have been required to provide Utah the same protection would be adding Utah to the list of protected States.

Please consider joining the Utah Public Lands Alliance. You can show your support for keeping public lands open by joining UPLA. UPLA will continue updating status of this bill here online.

Remember, “United We Stand!”

The extension follows the current road for the most part. Construction will involve some closures, so access points may shift a little. Stay tuned for updates.