Every time you turn onto a dirt road, climb a rocky trail, or head into Utah’s backcountry, you’re enjoying something that can no longer be taken for granted: motorized access to our public lands.

Keeping that access takes work—and money.

The Utah Public Lands Alliance (UPLA) works to protect and defend responsible motorized access across Utah—for full-size 4x4s, UTVs, ATVs, motorcycles, overlanders, and everyone who depends on motorized access to enjoy our public lands.

The Fight Happens Long Before a Trail Closes

Most trail closures don’t begin with a gate across the road. They begin years earlier in planning documents, environmental reviews, travel management plans, agency policies, regulations, legislation, and courtrooms.

That means we have to be involved before the closure happens—and wherever the decisions are being made.

UPLA reviews federal land-management proposals, prepares substantive public comments, educates and mobilizes the off-road community, works with land managers and elected officials, advocates for policies that protect responsible access, and helps fund litigation when legal action becomes necessary.

What Have Your Donations Helped Accomplish?

UPLA doesn’t just talk about protecting access. We put your donations to work.

We built professional capacity to fight travel-management closures. UPLA has expanded its ability to analyze thousands of pages of federal planning documents and prepare detailed, substantive comments on travel management plans affecting motorized access across Utah. These decisions can determine which roads and trails remain available for decades to come, so having knowledgeable people involved in the process matters.

We mobilize Utah’s off-road community. UPLA works with a network of 49 Utah OHV clubs and thousands of independent volunteers to document routes, identify maintenance needs, provide local knowledge, and make sure the people who actually use these roads and trails have a voice in federal planning decisions.

We take Utah’s OHV voice to Washington. UPLA is focused on protecting motorized access and OHV recreation here in Utah. But many of the federal policies, regulations, and agency decisions that ultimately determine what happens on the ground in Utah are made or influenced in Washington, D.C.

For that reason, UPLA has developed strategic but limited contacts with federal agency officials, members of Congress, and congressional staff. We use those relationships when issues in Washington could directly affect motorized access in Utah—providing information from people who know these lands, explaining the real-world consequences of proposed policies and legislation, and making sure Utah’s OHV community has a voice in decisions that could affect our roads and trails.

Our Washington efforts aren’t about expanding UPLA’s mission beyond Utah. They’re about protecting Utah by being present where decisions affecting Utah are made.

We invest in the legal fight. UPLA has contributed nearly $150,000 to BlueRibbon Coalition’s Legal Defense Fund in the last two years, helping support litigation defending motorized access—including major legal battles right here in Utah. Sometimes administrative and political efforts aren’t enough, and the courtroom becomes the last line of defense.

And we’re still fighting. From travel management planning in places like Trail Canyon, Dino North, the Henry Mountains, Paunsaugunt, and the Dolores River area to larger policy, regulatory, legislative, and legal battles affecting motorized recreation across the West, UPLA continues to show up where access is at stake.

We Are Massively Outgunned

There is another reality every Utah off-roader needs to understand.

Organizations advocating for public-land policies that often restrict motorized access have financial resources that dwarf ours.

These aren’t simply conservation organizations with a different philosophy about public lands. They are actively involved in the policies, travel plans, legislation, and litigation that determine where motorized recreation will and will not be allowed.

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) makes its position particularly clear in its own description of the organization: it says that since 1983 it has worked full-time to defend America’s redrock wilderness from threats including “rampant off-road vehicle use” and unnecessary road construction. Read SUWA’s statement for yourself.

That makes this more than a philosophical disagreement for Utah’s OHV community. Decisions these organizations advocate for can directly affect the roads and trails we depend on for motorized access.

Now consider the resources available to just two organizations active on public-land issues affecting Utah.

According to financial information extracted directly from IRS Form 990 filings and published by ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer:

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) — ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer reported for 2024:

$12.67 million in revenue

$5.78 million in total expenses

$32.11 million in net assets

And The Wilderness Society — ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer reported for its fiscal year ending in 2024:

$42.03 million in revenue

$43.48 million in total expenses

$93.34 million in net assets

Click either organization’s name above and you can see the financial information for yourself.

To be clear, we are not suggesting that every dollar those organizations spend is directed at restricting OHV access. These figures represent their total organizational expenses.

But they demonstrate the enormous difference in resources between organizations involved in the public-lands debate and UPLA.

Together, SUWA and The Wilderness Society reported more than $49.25 million in annual expenses.

Now compare that with UPLA.

2026 has made huge progress in fundraising and expanding our capacity to fight back and we are on track to have our largest spending year in UPLA’s history—but still only $250,000.

The combined annual spending of just those two organizations is nearly 200 times UPLA’s projected record spending for 2026.

This Is David Versus Goliath

We are massively outgunned. Our adversaries have the resources for attorneys, professional staff, policy experts, communications programs, government-relations efforts, fundraising operations, and years of sustained involvement in public-land policy.

UPLA operates on a fraction of those resources. And yet we keep showing up.

• We analyze massive federal planning documents.
• We prepare substantive public comments.
• We organize and mobilize Utah’s OHV community.
• We work with federal land managers.
• We maintain strategic contacts with decision-makers in Washington.
• We advocate for legislative and policy changes affecting Utah access.
• And when necessary, we help fund litigation to defend motorized recreation.

UPLA has become very good at operating on a shoestring and accomplishing far more than our budget would suggest. But there is a limit to what determination, volunteers, and a shoestring budget can accomplish.

We Don’t Need $49 Million. We Need You.

UPLA isn’t trying to become a $49 million organization. And we don’t have to match our adversaries dollar for dollar. But we do need enough resources to fight effectively.

We need professional expertise when thousands of pages of federal planning documents determine the future of hundreds of miles of roads and trails. We need to be at the table when important decisions are being made. We need the ability to mobilize Utah’s OHV community when thousands of voices can make a difference. And when every other option has failed, we need the resources to fight in court.

That’s where you come in.

How Much Is Your Access Worth to You?

Think about what you’ve invested in enjoying Utah’s public lands.

Your 4×4, UTV, ATV or motorcycle. Your trailer. Camping equipment. Fuel. Tires. Repairs. Trips with your family and friends.

For many of us, off-roading isn’t simply something we do. It’s part of how we live and how we experience Utah.

But none of that investment means very much if we lose the places to ride.

So we’re asking you to do more than agree with UPLA. We’re asking you to invest in protecting your access.

Show us how much you value your right to responsibly recreate on Utah’s public lands using a motorized OHV. Maybe that’s $25. Maybe it’s $100. Maybe it’s $500, $1,000 or more. Only you can decide what protecting motorized access is worth to you.

But think about what could happen if every Utah off-roader who cares about keeping our roads and trails open contributed even a fraction of what they spend each year enjoying them.

We may be outspent nearly 200 to 1. But they don’t have what we have: 250,000 Utah off-roaders with a personal stake in keeping these lands accessible.

We need you standing with us. We Need You.

Don’t wait until your favorite trail appears on a closure map. Don’t wait until there’s a gate across the road.

Show us how much your motorized access means to you.

Help give UPLA the resources to fight for the roads, trails, and public lands you use and love.

Protect your access. Protect your trails. Protect the future of motorized recreation in Utah.