A coalition of groups is challenging a travel management plan in Utah that the Bureau of Land Management approved in the closing days of the Biden administration.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah challenges restrictions to off-highway vehicle use in the San Rafael Swell, an area popular among hikers and campers for its red rock cliffs and slot canyons. The plan covers a 1.1 million-acre area in eastern Utah.
While the plan approved in early January designated 1,355 miles of motorized travel road routes within the area as open “at all times of the year,” it also closed 665 miles to all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and off-road trucks. BLM said at the time it issued the decision record that the closures are needed to protect “cultural resources, important wildlife habitats, and delicate ecosystems.”
But a lawsuit says the result is the unnecessary restriction “of access to historical sites” that is “based on arbitrary and capricious reasoning.” The legal complaint was filed by Idaho-based BlueRibbon Coalition, an off-road vehicle and recreation advocacy group, as well as the Sage Riders Motorcycle Club and Paul Wells, a member of both groups.
