SALT LAKE CITY (December 17, 2007) -- Three years after filing a federal lawsuit to claim that remote routes across federal public land in six counties are actually state highways, the State of Utah filed papers in U.S. District Court last Friday to withdraw the suit. The routes are located in remote areas of Beaver, Box Elder, Emery, Uintah, Washington, and Wayne Counties.
The State had originally brought the suit, Utah v. United States, as part of an ongoing strategy to claim more than 10,000 such tracks under a law commonly known as R.S. 2477, which Congress repealed in 1976 subject to valid existing rights. The State and some rural Utah Counties view R.S. 2477 as a way to wrest control of federal public lands away from federal land managers, arguing that these “highways” are immune from federal authority and regulation. The presence of such highways would also disqualify many of Utah’s most remote areas from wilderness consideration or other types of protection.
The state and rural county partners have so far made thousands of claims in Wilderness Study Areas, National Parks, National Recreation Areas, and ecologically sensitive areas like streambeds, wetlands and areas rich in archaeological artifacts. Many of the routes have been adopted by ATV and dirt bike riders, and have caused erosion and other environmental damage and, scars and led to looting of archaeological sites.
“Naturally, we are pleased that the State has decided to drop this controversial lawsuit,” said Heidi McIntosh of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “Unfortunately, Utah is still pursuing three other suits involving barely visible, impassable trails where jeep or ATVs would wreak enormous environmental damage – including one in a streambed in Canyonlands National Park. For the sake of Utah’s natural beauty and ecological health, State leaders should focus on working with federal agencies to meet real transportation needs and not fight for bogus ‘highways’ that only lead to destruction of the very things that make Utah uniquely beautiful.”
“We welcome Utah’s withdrawing this lawsuit, but huge threats remain,” said Ted Zukoski, an Earthjustice attorney representing conservation groups seeking to intervene in a quartet of Utah road lawsuits. “From fragile streams in desert sandstone canyons to alpine tundra high in the mountains, the State of Utah is trying to put bulldozers through National Park and other lands that are now protected for all Americans to enjoy.”
Further Background
This is the second time the State of Utah has withdrawn its bid to claim routes under R.S. 2477. First, Utah petitioned for a claim known as the Weiss Highway to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with the belief that it was uncontestable. The validity of this claim was questioned when research by conservationists proved that the route was built exclusively by federal crews through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and not built by pioneering settlers, as the State had implied. After the conservationists filed this evidence, the State withdrew its claim. Subsequently, Utah presented six other claims to the BLM and those claims were withdrawn by the agency.
At the same time, Utah is continuing to press its litigation over a streambed in Canyonlands National Park, through sensitive desert lands in the San Rafael Swell, and in alpine wilderness in the Deep Creek Mountains.
“Protecting National Parks and wilderness lands from unnecessary highway development should be a priority for the State of Utah,” said Kristen Brengel of The Wilderness Society. “Instead, the State is trying to use R.S. 2477 as a legal weapon to undermine important protection for parks, wildlife habitat, and streams.”
Those cases include:
San Juan County and State of Utah v. United States (before U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins)
- The State seeks rights to own and bulldoze a route through Salt Creek Canyon inside Canyonlands National Park.
- According to the Park Service, Salt Creek supports the most extensive river corridor in Canyonlands National Park and the richest assemblage of birds and other wildlife in the Park, outside the Green and Colorado Rivers.
- The Park Service closed the route to motor vehicles in 1998, because the Salt Creek area “is a resource whose conservation is key to the natural integrity of the park.”
- The Park Service recommended six Native American archeological sites within the alleged “highway” for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
State of Utah and Emery County v. United States (before U.S. District Judge Dee Benson)
- The State seeks rights to own and bulldoze seven routes through the San Rafael Swell.
- BLM closed many of the routes claimed in 2003 to protect streams and fragile desert habitat.
- Two of the routes would bulldoze highways inside the Mexican Mountain Wilderness Study Area, which BLM found to be roadless nearly 30 years ago.
State of Utah and Juab County v. United States (before U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell)
- The State seeks rights to own and bulldoze three routes through the Deep Creek Mountains and Scotts Basin Wilderness Study Areas in western Utah.
- The Deep Creek Mountains soar to 12,000 feet high and contain habitat for deer, elk, and bobcat.
- Road work the State seeks to do on one claimed route threatens to harm habitat for the Bonneville cutthroat trout, which the State is trying to recover.
- Another claimed route cuts through land The Nature Conservancy bought and transferred to BLM to protect from damage, including from road construction.
For more information on the State's pending lawsuits, visit:
