Hands down, we live in the most beautiful state in the nation, and we are committed to protecting our natural resources. Utah is the home to over 1.8 million acres of Wilderness Areas, over 2.
7 million acres of Wilderness Study Areas and over 4 million acres of U.S. Forest Service “Roadless Areas.
” That means motorized vehicles of any type are prohibited in these protected areas. Despite the fact that the vast expanse of Utah is already off limits to motorized vehicles, it’s still not enough for the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This federal agency continues to close motorized access to more and more of Utah’s public land, essentially creating de facto wilderness without congressional authorization.
Just this last September, the BLM unilaterally closed 317 miles of roads and trails on public land near Moab, including the popular “Hey Joe Canyon” jeep trail and the legendary “Tubes” motorcycle trail . All Utahns are harmed by this loss of access to our public lands, especially those with limited mobility who are unable to visit on foot or mountain bike. That’s why the state of Utah is working to protect the balance between non-motorized and motorized recreation across Utah’s public lands.
Utah is not seeking to build more roads . That is misinformation and untrue, pure and simple. Instead, Utah is fighting to preserve motorized access on the roads and trails as they currently exist on the ground, so that all types of recreation — both motorized.
