Anytime a new Administration takes control of elected office, it generally is accompanied by significant changes in the policies and practices of that Administration. There is little doubt that President Trump is making sweeping changes, but we have only seen a few signals in his plans about regaining access to our public lands, Interior Secretary Nominee Burgum is still awaiting confirmation, but there are many other very important positions that are still awaiting announcement such as Director of the BLM and Chief of the United States Forest Service, In Utah, there will be a new BLM Utah State Director. I believe it is important to lie out the challenges we’ve had with current policies and be sure our leaders are aware of both what has happened and suggestions for changes going forward.

Today, I will be sending the following letter to President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Acting Interior Secretary Walter Cruickshank, with copies to Senator Mike Lee and Senator John Curtis and Governor Spencer Cox. I encourage you to make your voices heard and send similar letters to members of the Administration.

Loren Campbell
President
Utah Public Lands Alliance

Appeal to President Trump Asking for Executive Action and Leadership_Low Res_000059

Just a few days after the advocates gave up on the effort to create the Dolores River National Monument, they are now proposing the area be designated as a National Conservation Area. We are strongly opposed to this effort as it is just a stepping stone to even more restrictions. Here is what we are sending to support opposition of this new threat to motorized recreation and dispersed camping.

Final Opposition Article on Dolores NCA

UPLA has completed our final draft of comments and you can find them here. 

If you’re ready to submit your comments, visit this BLM EPlanning site, wait for the Green Participate Now Button to come up and submit your comments. 

Comments Must be Submitted Today Monday December 16, 2024

Thank you for your Support!

Utah Public Lands Alliance

Together We Can Win,

But We Can’t Do It Without You

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.

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The challenge we’ve always faced with Travel Management is that we’re always playing catch up with only 30 days for most comment periods, by the time we get the word out and ask people to go out and write comments, we’re playing catch up and don’t have time to run trails or provide great comments to persuade BLM or Forest Service to Keep them Open.

UPLA launched Trail Saver, a new tool for you to prepare notes after each ride you go on, anywhere in Utah. There’s nothing more effective than putting your thoughts in writing right after your ride when everything is fresh in your mind, and your photos and gpx tracks are easily available. If you spend just 5-10 minutes writing a brief report, it will really help us collect better data. Once you submit the form, it will email you a formatted copy of your comments for that trail along with some helpful hints that will make it easy to submit your comments when they are needed. We all think of something else right after we hit submit, Trail Saver allows you to edit or add to your comments, and will immediately send you a revised report. UPLA, BlueRibbon, and local clubs working that area may also be copied on the comments so that they can also assist.

You don’t have to worry about confusing dates either, once the comment period opens for that Travel Management Plan, Trail Saver will email you a reminder with all of your comments, photos, tracks, ratings, etc, along with more tips and instructions on how to submit them to BLM and or Forest Service. For the system to work effectively, you will need the BLM or Forest Service Route numbers, so I recommend you take a pic of those signs as you go by them and include those when submitting your form.

TrailSaver reports should be thought of as your notes about what makes keeping the route open important, views, dispersed campsites, challenging or easy, significant vistas, connections to other important routes can all be important. Make an effort to write short notes on every trail you go on, and let Trail Saver keep track of them. When it’s time to submit comments to BLM, TrailSaver will email you your report along with all your photos and other attachments to make it easy to submit great comments. Unfortunately, 90% of all comments submitted to BLM are not considered because they don’t meet BLM “substantive comment” standards. To learn what makes your comments make a stronger impact, watch our series of short videos on Youtube, or click on this helpful BLM link

Order and display TrailSaver stickers on your rigs so you can explain the program to others you run into. You can order stickers for yourself, group, or club at www.TrailSaver.com

Comments are now open for Henry Mountains and Fremont Gorge, which you should submit to BLM. Other areas coming soon will be Trail Canyon and Pausaugant in Kanab and Dino North in Vernal, so we especially need reports on these, but please submit reports everywhere you go in

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All comments are valuable, but those that meet the “substantive comment criteria” are better.

Browse This Guide on Crafting Better Comments

Substantive Comment Guidance