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
