Archive | January, 2025

Introducing the TPA Trail Crew

In 2025, we are launching the TPA Trail Crew, a dedicated team of experienced professionals focused on improving trail maintenance across Colorado. Inspired by the USFS Statewide Trail Crew, this team will be:

  • Fully funded by the TPA for the first year
  • Equipped with a truck, camper, motorcycles, chainsaws, PPE, and more
  • Offering trail work services at little to no cost to public land management agencies

Initially focused on handwork, the crew will also be qualified to operate machinery when needed. This initiative aims to address ongoing federal funding and staffing challenges, providing vital support for Colorado’s trails.

To sustain this effort beyond 2025, we’re pursuing a Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) 2025–2026 OHV grant and building partnerships with agencies, clubs, and trail users statewide.

View the TPA’s 2025-2026 CPW OHV grant application: https://cpw.widen.net/s/rltsqwnpcz/13-tpa_statewide_trail_crew_2026

How You Can Help

  1. Submit Comments to CPW OHV Grants by January 31, 2025:
    Show your support for the TPA Trail Crew by submitting written comments here: trails@state.co.us (See notes below on how to write effective comments)
  2. Make a Donation:
    Your contribution can directly support the TPA and the Trail Crew, ensuring we have the resources to continue this critical work. Every dollar makes a difference! Donate here.

Effective Comments Should Include:

  • Specific reasons why you support or oppose a particular grant application.
  • Details on the grant’s impact: Explain how you believe the grant will (or will not) expand, improve, or enhance motorcycle/multi-use recreation on public lands. Consider whether your recreation opportunities and experiences would be improved if the grant is funded.
  • Sustainability and natural resource protection: Highlight how the grant will enable responsible and sustainable motorized recreation and contribute to protecting natural resources.
  • Value for OHV funds: Share why you believe the grant and its requested funding represent a good (or poor) use of your OHV sticker funds.
  • Feedback on land managers: Provide insights into your experiences—positive or negative—with the land managers (e.g., USFS Ranger District, BLM Field Office, State Park) responsible for the project. It’s crucial for the Subcommittee to understand whether land managers are listening to and respecting the OHV user community, which funds this grant program.
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BLM Uncompahgre Field Office Travel Management Public Comments

1/28/25

UPDATE: Wednesday’s open house in Naturita has been postponed with no new date yet. Public comment period still runs through March 18, 2025.

Preliminary project information, including a map of the travel management area, can be found online at https://www.blm.gov/office/uncompahgre-field-office/travel-management.

The BLM is specifically looking for feedback on what type of recreation you want to see as well as:

  • Any missing routes
  • Inaccuracies in data (misalignments)
  • Information on use level and type on each route
  • Staging areas and access
  • General area uses, etc.

 


Want to see more motorized singletrack? This is an opportunity to tell the BLM what kind of trails you want to see from the get go.

The BLM Uncompahgre Field Office is seeking the public’s input ahead of their travel management process for trails in the Naturita area. They have an open house in Naturita on January 29th, 2025 and public comments open from January 21, 2025 to March 18, 2025.

Naturita is located on the western slope, on the southern end of the Uncompahgre Plateau.

If you want to see motorized singletrack, motorized loops, parking facilities, bathrooms, etc, you can share your input with the BLM as they begin the process. Your voice matters!

SEND COMMENTS:

Email
BLM_CO_UFO_Recreation@blm.gov

Mail
Uncompahgre Field Office
2465 S. Townsend Ave
Montrose, CO 81401
attn: Caroline Kilbane

 

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CDPHE Regulation #87 Dredge and Fill Control Proposal Comments

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)
Via: Google Form Portal

Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Att: Fletcher Jacobs
Via email only

 

RE: Regulation #87 Dredge and Fill Control regulations

Dear Planning Team;

Please accept this correspondence as the input of the above Organizations regarding the proposed Rule 87 concerning the Dredge and Fill Control regulations. For purposes of these comments, this will be referred to as the Proposal.  We appreciated the virtual meeting and discussion between our representatives and CDHPE on January 8, 2025. In our call we discussed our concerns around possible recreational impacts from the Rule as it did not appear to have been within the scope of the Stakeholder Group efforts. While the representatives in the meeting stated that they did not believe these new regulations would impact trail maintenance efforts, we are unable to identify specific provisions in the Rule that allow this type of effort. While there are many provisions that could be applied to allow trail maintenance to continue, often these provisions require broad interpretations to make these types of determinations. We would ask that the Rule be clarified to address that trail maintenance activities would be presumed to be outside the scope of work that would require a State Water permit.

1a.  Who we are.

Prior to addressing the specific concerns, the Organizations have regarding the Proposal, we believe a brief summary of each Organization is needed.  The Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition (“COHVCO”) is a grassroots advocacy organization representing the OHV community seeking to represent, assist, educate, and empower all OHV recreationists in the protection and promotion of off-highway motorized recreation throughout Colorado. COHVCO is an environmental organization that advocates and promotes the responsible use and conservation of our public lands and natural resources to preserve their aesthetic and recreational qualities for future generations. The Trail Preservation Alliance (“TPA”) is an advocacy organization created to be a viable partner to public lands managers, working with the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to preserve the sport of motorized trail riding and multiple-use recreation. The TPA acts as an advocate for the sport and takes the necessary action to ensure that the USFS and BLM allocate a fair and equitable percentage of public lands access to diverse multiple-use trail recreational opportunities. Colorado Snowmobile Association (“CSA”) was founded in 1970 to unite winter motorized recreationists across the state to enjoy their passion. CSA has also become the voice of organized snowmobiling seeking to advance, promote and preserve the sport of snowmobiling through work with Federal and state land management agencies and local, state and federal legislators telling the truth about our sport.

The Organizations partnerships with State and Federal managers has prospered since the creation of the winter grooming program, funded through the sale of snowmobile registrations and permits in the early 1970s. The CPW OHV program was created in the 1988 and has provide more than 100 million in funding to managers to maintain safe creational for motorized use over the life of these programs. Currently the OHV and Snowmobile program fund the hiring of more than 150 employees who perform maintenance on trails across the State.  These programs have been supplemented by hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer effort to leverage these grant funds. In 2023, TPA and CSA joined in their estimates of these hours and concluded that total was far in excess of 20,000 hrs. in 2022 alone. The possible impacts of the proposal on our partnership with CPW and federal lands managers is a major reason for these comments as each of these efforts requires a grant proposal through the State Trails Program.

Maintenance crew applications are annually applied for by the Federal land managers, who often do not have access to any engineering staff to do detailed designs for larger efforts such as road or bridge reconstruction. Far too commonly these resources are provided through the grant program on larger projects, opening the possibility of significant delay in projects. For maintenance, the land mangers do not have access to hydrologists to certify a lack of impacts for a smaller project.  They rely on their staff and BMPs to protect water resources. Even a preliminary certification of no impact would be an immense barrier to these applications. We have attached a sample of various projects that are performed by these maintenance crews as part of our annual maintenance programs with these comments to allow you to understand the scope of these efforts as Exhibit “1” to these comments. NEPA compliance and other environmental compliance issues, such as 404 permit, are resolved in the schedule C-1 of these applications by the federal applicant. NEPA compliance is allowed for maintenance in this manner based on the USFS regulations found in 36 CFR 220.6, which specifically allows maintenance to occur outside the need for an EA or EIS. Given the clarity of existing NEPA regs on this issue, we would ask for similar regulations to provide this authority under the Proposal simply to avoid delays or questions in funding being used on the ground to protect resources.  Even with this clarity, there are periodic questions and concerns that grants lack NEPA review that are raised. Having these clear and direct regulations allows us to resolve these concerns relatively quickly.

In our meeting we pledged to share a copy of the video we partnered with Colorado Youth Corp, CPW and USFS to create that outlined the benefits of our efforts in restoring areas impacted by the East Troublesome Fire in 2021.[1]  These grants and resource are more critical than ever before in maintaining recreation and protecting waters given the challenges that the USFS has recently experienced hiring seasonals.[2] We have a compelling concern that all funding for maintenance crews is on the ground as fast and efficiently as possible to allow these state resources to backfill this gap in funding currently being experienced by federal lands managers.

While the Organizations are concerned regarding possible impacts to all forms of recreation from these ambiguities, the snowmobile community represents an area when the impacts from an overly strict interpretation of these provisions could simply stop this activity entirely.  This sport, much like the downhill ski industry, occurs entirely on frozen water that melts and runs off every year. Trail grooming through the State Program provides a critical link for the safe operation of these activities. With a strict interpretation of the ambiguities, could a permit be required for snowmobile and skiing maintenance activities?  Possibly. That would functionally stop these activities from occurring and avoiding that situation is a priority for our Organizations. We would like clarity that this would not occur.

1b. Our recent challenges from minor ambiguities.

As we have noted previously our partnerships on trail maintenance with CPW and federal land managers have spanned more than 50 years. Over the 50 year of this partnership, we have worked to resolve many issues that have arisen from minor ambiguities in drafting having major impacts on the ground. The Organizations concerns on this issue are not without basis as we were forced to obtain passage of legislation last session that both in state and out of state snowmobile users were required to register their snowmobiles for legal use on Colorado Trails. For decades a small ambiguity in the snowmobile legislation was interpreted as requiring out of state users to register their snowmobiles.  When the most recent Attorney General was sworn in, his opinion was different and we could no longer require out of state users to purchase a permit.   This decision also excluded the out of state user from being required to pay the .25 surcharge to support the Colorado Search and Rescue program as well.  This was a major concern as the S&R program is seeing rapidly increasing demands for its service while it has not received major new funding for many year. Loss of any revenue stream would have a significant impact.

This ambiguity was not of sufficient scale to stop our efforts, but it was a growing barrier given the increases in out of state visitation to Colorado for recreational opportunities. This ambiguity created problems beyond just funding as the public was questioning why residents must support free recreational opportunities for non residents and similar concerns. While CPW and the Organizations were able to resolve  this ambiguity with the passage of SB 24-56[3] last session, this was a major effort to resolve a minor ambiguity.  We would like to avoid having to run legislation in the future to clarify that trail maintenance does not need a permit for maintenance if there are water issues possibly involved.

2. The economic and social value of recreation and trails to Colorado is overwhelming.

The Organizations are aware that the Proposal is being drafted by CDPHE, who does not have a wide ranging background in recreation management. The Organizations believe it is important to recognize the immense economic value that Colorado receives from outdoor recreation. The 2023 Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic analysis estimated the value of outdoor recreation at more than $17 billion in value added to the economy and accounting for more than 132,594 jobs.[4] This accounts for more than 3.2% of the State GDP annually and many of these benefits are flowing to smaller communities that have lost other revenue streams and are now overly reliant on recreational activity to provide basic services. In 2023 COHVCO partnered with CPW and federal land managers to update their economic contribution study addressing motorized use recreation on trails found that motorized alone accounted for more than $3.2 billion in revenue and 10,370 jobs in the State.[5]

The values of trails in particular are a huge resource that is hugely valued socially for residents in  the State of Colorado. CPW State Trails Program Strategic Plan addresses the value of trails to the State of Colorado residents as follows:

“Trail related recreation, including non-motorized and motorized recreation, continues to be the most popular type of outdoor recreation in Colorado. Recent studies about participation in outdoor recreation indicates that 83% of Coloradans recreate on trails, and that total participation exceeded 227 million activity days in 2013.9 These figures are consistent with previous studies, indicating the long-term popularity of trail related recreation in Colorado.10,11,1 Current estimates are that there are over 33 thousand miles of trails in Colorado. Of that total, approximately 58 percent (19,168 miles) are on federal lands, principally those managed by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Local and Regional governments provide about 18 percent of the total (6,200 miles), while the remaining 24 percent (7,970 miles) are managed by CPW in state parks or state wildlife areas or CDOT in highway corridors.”[6]

Given the huge reliance of the Colorado economy on outdoor recreation and the immense social value that the resident of the state place on trails, and any barriers to maintaining them would have a significant and immediate impact on these benefits. We are asking to avoid these type of impacts by clarifying that trail maintenance is outside the scope of effort that would need review and permitting under the Proposal.

3. The Federal Highways Administration recently recognized the value of trails for transportation in emergency response and climate resilience.

In 2023, Federal Highways Administration released their report identified the high value that all forms of trails play in the changing climate situation and in emergency response. This report clearly identified the value of trails for many other uses beyond recreation  as follows:

“Trails are often overlooked as elements of essential infrastructure for a resilient transportation system.1 In emergencies where other transportation facilities are shut down or inaccessible, people may use trails to get where they need to go. Trails can also provide critical access in emergencies for people without access to a car or transit service. Trails for both motorized and nonmotorized use can provide access for search and rescue, fighting wildfires, or other emergency response operations. The increase in trail use during the COVID-19 pandemic has also demonstrated the importance of trails for improving health and wellbeing during public health emergencies.”[7]

The growing recognition of the benefits of these types of resources for non-traditional uses has become more common. In 2023 the Governor of Vermont hiked almost a mile on snowmobile trail after roads around him were heavily impacted by Tropical Storms.[8]  The Organizations again would note that maintenance of these resources is critical and could be impacted by overly strict application of the ambiguities in the Proposal.

4. Governor Polis Executive Order 2020-008 requires coordination of management efforts to protect recreation and natural resources.

As previously addressed the both the economic value and social value that Colorado places on recreation and natural resources is immense and striking the proper balance of these values has been an ongoing effort in Colorado.   In 2020, Governor Polis signed Executive Order B-2020-008 that reaffirmed the need to balance all values in management efforts and avoid barriers to the long term funding necessary to achieve these goals as follows:

“A. DNR, in consultation with CPW and the CO-OP, shall develop the Initiative to achieve the following goals:

1. Ensure that Colorado’s land, water, and wildlife thrive while also providing for equitable and safe access to quality outdoor recreation experiences; ….

4. Identify stable and long-term funding from multiple, sustainable sources to provide for the critical investments needed to conserve Colorado’s landscapes, rivers, wildlife, sensitive habitats, and recreational opportunities.”[9]

As we have noted the CPW trails grants and program provide a model of the sustainable long term funding necessary to protect water resources and recreational opportunities.  The Organizations would assert that avoiding ambiguities in the Proposal, such as we are asking for, falls within the clear scope of this Executive Order and is required to be addressed.

5. Governor Polis recently reaffirmed the need for balance when the 2024 SCORP priority of maintenance.

The Governor and CPW recently reaffirmed their commitment with the release of the 2024 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan which was signed by Governor Polis in September 2024.   The 2024 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan identifies Priority number 1 as follows:

“Priority number 1: Access and Opportunity.  Goal: all Coloradans and visitor’s have access to and opportunity for sustainable outdoor recreation.”[10]

The need for maintenance of existing infrastructure is clearly identified as objective II under goal 1 as follows:

“Maintain and enhance the quality of outdoor recreation experience as and destinations through collaboration planning and holistic actions.”

The 2024 SCORP also identifies the priority that managers give to maintenance of recreational facilities as follows:

“A majority of survey takers would like land managers to prioritize operation and maintenance of existing outdoor areas and facilities.”[11]

Achieving these goals can only occur when the limited resources that are available to achieve these goals is effectively and efficiently applied on the ground.  In order to achieve the goals of the SCORP and requirements of EO2020-008 the Organizations submit that providing clear and unambiguous guidance for implementation of efforts to avoid impacts on program is a critical requirement.

6. Why we are asking for clarity and possible resolutions.

The Organizations believe the importance of all trails to the State of Colorado residents may be higher than any other state in the Country. Colorado residents also expect natural resources, such  as water to be protected. As we have noted there are many requirements to this effect in place, such as various environmental review requirements like NEPA and the Proposal. Based on a 50-year partnership with CPW, writing these goals is often much easier than implementing these goals and often there are unintended consequences from any efforts. We are also aware these types of consequences may be easily avoided as exemplified by the regulations provided under 36 CFR 220.6 for NEPA.

In our discussions with your office we agreed that maintenance of trails is outside the scope for this effort. This understanding is not clearly reflected in the Proposal, and several of the provisions are open to interpretation to avoid impacts to maintenance efforts.  While the Proposal allows exceptions to the permit requirements for maintenance and reconstruction of transportation structures in paragraph f and voluntary restoration efforts in ephemeral streams in paragraph M, there is significant ambiguity in these provisions. Is a trail a transportation structure.  We would say it is.  Could this change in the future?  Possibly.  Is trail maintenance a voluntary restoration effort of an ephemeral stream?

Our concern is there is no definition of a transportation structure or ephemeral stream in the Proposal. After briefly reviewing the Clean Water Act, these definitions are lacking in those statutes as well.  This causes us great concern as this means these terms are open to interpretation. Again we would think it was and based on our conversations, CDPHE seems to agree.  We are asking that these exclusions be clarified to avoid any ambiguity and reflect the consensus of understanding that was in our meeting.  The Organizations are aware that many decades from now, this understanding may not be easily identified and well intentioned efforts may resolve these ambiguities differently without understanding the impacts from that type of decision. The Organizations would ask that these ambiguities be resolved so that the critically needed funding flows from the trails program to on the ground projects that provide high quality recreational opportunities and protect water resources on the ground.

7. Conclusion.

We thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Proposal and hope that our concerns can be easily and quickly resolved in the rulemaking effort to avoid future impacts to programs from what is simply ambiguity in drafting. The Organizations again would like to thank you for the opportunity to discuss these concerns previously and hope our comments expand on our concerns addressed in that meeting. We are asking that the Proposal provide authority similar to the existing NEPA provisions for maintenance in this manner based on the USFS regulations found in 36 CFR 220.6, which specifically allows maintenance to occur outside the need for an EA or EIS. Given the clarity of existing NEPA regs on this issue, this would be a  minimum authority under the Proposal simply to avoid delays or questions in funding being used on the ground to protect resources.

The Organizations and our partners remain committed to providing high quality recreational resources on federal public lands while protecting resources and would welcome discussions on how to further these goals and objectives with new tools and resources. If you have questions, please feel free to contact Scott Jones, Esq. (518-281-5810 / scott.jones46@yahoo.com), Chad Hixon (719-221-8329 / chad@coloradotpa.org).

 

Scott Jones, Esq.
CSA Executive Director
COHVCO Authorized Representative

Chad Hixon
Executive Director
Trails Preservation Alliance

Marcus Trusty
President
CORE

 

 

[1] A  copy of this video is available for review here: Restoring impacts from the East Troublesome Fire in the Sulphur Ranger District

[2] ‘Unacceptable’: Colorado’s federal lawmakers respond to U.S. Forest Service seasonal hiring freeze | KUNC

[3] More information on this legislation is available here Out-of-State Snowmobile Permit & Search Rescue Fee | Colorado General Assembly

[4] Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, U.S. and States, 2023 | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

[5] See, Page 4.   A copy of that report is attached as Exhibit “2”to these comments.

[6] See, CPW Trails Program Strategic Plan at pg. 5 – A copy of this document is attached as Exhibit  “3” to these comments.

[7] A complete copy of the 2023 report is available here: Trails and Resilience: Review of the Role of Trails in Climate Resilience and Emergency Response

[8] Vermont ravaged by ‘historic and catastrophic’ flooding as governor warns ‘this is nowhere near over’

[9] EO B2020 008 II A

[10] Copy of 2024 SCORP is available here: 2025 to 2029 SCORP – 2025 to 2029 SCORP Plan

[11] Pg. 8 of 2024 SCORP.

 

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DOGE Legislative Bundle Comments

Senator Marcia Blackburn
357 Dirksen Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Re: DOGE Legislative Bundle

Dear Senator Blackburn;

The above Organizations are reaching out to provide our thoughts and inputs on the bundle of 7 Legislative Proposals that have been released to create and facilitate operations of the new Division of Government Efficiency(“DOGE”). The Organizations welcome the DOGE effort and would like to provide input around our experiences with general issues and challenges addressed in these Proposals and that they are a major step towards returning the federal government financial challenges to a more stable position after the immense spending that has occurred over the last several years.  The challenges we have experienced generally within the DOGE proposals would include:

  • The budgeting process for land management agencies needs critical reform;
  • Staffing levels for federal land managers are woefully inadequate; and
  • Allocation of existing staff does not align with resolving problems on the ground.

The Organizations would also like to identify several general factors we have experienced in our partnerships with various federal agencies that have created systemic inefficiencies that are not addressed in the DOGE Proposals.  These issues would include:

  • Permitting process and its application;
  • Federal hiring processes and restrictive management models;
  • Management models that are simply out of date;
  • Partner and Club liability is an immense barrier to expanded support; and
  • Streamlining regulations around NEPA implementation.

The Organizations hope that this dialogue and effort will create a much more efficient and effective management process as generally the agencies we work with are facing unprecedented challenges. We believe the challenges that many of the land managers we work with appear to be very similar to the challenges facing firefighters responding to the LA Wildfires currently. The LA firefighters appear to be face responding to the fires with  historically low staffing levels in absolute numbers, staffing levels that have failed to grow with the needs of the communities they defend and then a lack resources necessary to do their jobs when called upon. Why this situation exists is complex. It appears that there may have been desire that many of the federal stimulus efforts would avoid cutting into operational budgets to achieve the goals of the stimulus efforts, it is clear that operational budgets have continued to decline in some cases. These fires exemplify the concerns the Organizations would have about similar impacts to federal lands managers, who have many of the same challenges, if corrections were not being made with these issues being understood. While the LA fires are presenting complex issues for management response, this is a cautionary tale of a situation that should be avoided.

Some of the issues we are raising could be resolved legislatively and the resolution of other challenges is better suited for rulemaking and others may simply take time to resolve by rebuilding trust between partners.  The Organizations are raising  all these issues in the hope of building greater understanding of the challenges we are facing and obtaining resolutions of those challenges in an coordinated and systemic manner. While recent funding packages have resolved some issues facing public lands, these temporary funding streams have created new challenges as well.

1. Who we are.

Prior to addressing the specific input of the Organizations on the Proposal, we believe a brief summary of each Organization is needed as our partnerships with land managers are somewhat unique. The Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition (“COHVCO”) is a grassroots advocacy organization representing the OHV community seeking to represent, assist, educate, and empower all OHV recreationists in the protection and promotion of off-highway motorized recreation throughout Colorado. COHVCO is an environmental organization that advocates and promotes the responsible use and conservation of our public lands and natural resources to preserve their aesthetic and recreational qualities for future generations. The Trail Preservation Alliance (“TPA”) is an advocacy organization created to be a viable partner to public lands managers, working with the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to preserve the sport of motorized trail riding and multiple-use recreation. The TPA acts as an advocate for the sport and takes the necessary action to ensure that the USFS and BLM allocate a fair and equitable percentage of public lands access to diverse multiple-use trail recreational opportunities. Colorado Snowmobile Association (“CSA”) was founded in 1970 to unite winter motorized recreationists across the state to enjoy their passion. CSA has also become the voice of organized snowmobiling seeking to advance, promote and preserve the sport of snowmobiling through work with Federal and state land management agencies and local, state and federal legislators telling the truth about our sport. CORE is a motorized action group dedicated to keeping motorized trails open in Central Colorado and the region. Idaho Recreation Council (“IRC”) is comprised of Idahoans from all parts of the state with a wide spectrum of recreational interests and a love for the future of Idaho and a desire to preserve recreation for future generations. The Idaho State Snowmobile Association (“ISSA”)is an organization dedicated to preserving, protecting, and promoting snowmobiling in the great state of Idaho. Our members may come from every corner of the state, but they all share one thing in common: their love for snowmobiling. Nevada Off Road Association (NVORA) is a non-profit Corporation created for and by offroad riders. NVORA was formed to specifically fill the void between the government managers and the rest of us who actively recreate in the Silver State. NVORA does this by maintaining a consistent, durable, and respected relationship with all stakeholders while facilitating a cooperative environment amongst our community. Advocates for Multiple Use of Public Lands (“AMPL”) is an organization made up of passionate recreationists, which was formed in 2017.  Our focus includes the organization of public support and the creation of a unified voice to maintain and protect broad access to our public lands for motorized and well as non-motorized recreational uses in a cooperative and cohabitant manner. We believe in the coexistence of recreation and conservation for all. Collectively, TPA, NVORA, CSA, CORE, IRC, ISSA, AMPL and COHVCO will be referred to as “The Organizations” for purposes of these comments.

The Organizations predominately partner with the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to provide sustainable outdoor recreational opportunities on public lands for more than 50 years in many areas. In most states, we work with a state level motorized group and then those groups partner with hundreds of local clubs that provide resources for sustainable recreational opportunities lands owned by public to private entities. In many States, our state level partners have voluntarily created OHV registration programs.  These state partnerships provide grant funds supporting large numbers of agency staff that sustain recreation, maintenance and management on Federal public lands.[1]  Thes funding opportunities through our state programs are predominately created and funded through our voluntary registration program for OHVs and Snowmobiles.  These programs are now providing between $200-$300 million annually to support these programs which are supplemented further by hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours. Often these programs are administered in partnership with State Parks, State Recreation or State Wildlife Divisions. Many federal lands management offices will vigorously assert that without these user funded programs, no projects or maintenance would get done in their Offices even with the stimulus funds in place. It should be noted that our Organizations are more apt to be partnering with the land management agencies to defend legal challenges to a land management decision rather than litigating a decision that was made. If we are forced to litigate a decision it is often the result of an overly politicized decision resulting from a monument designation or other political action.

If the Organizations were asked to summarize the status of our partner agencies, that summary would be “facing unprecedented challenges”.  The Organizations have experienced some exceptional success with land managers over the last several years. These successes have been isolated, and many offices have struggled badly simply to sustain themselves and others have moved backwards away from success all together.  Agency staffing levels have never been shorter and levels of conflicting goals for that limited staff have never been higher, which only compounds landscape level challenges. Often when new staff have been hired, they are in positions that do not resolve problems but rather create new barriers to management responses and barriers are being raised simply because the new hire does not understand the success of efforts in place or don’t like a particular usage. An example of the landscape challenges we have encountered with the various inventories that have been undertaken without any hope of resolving the underlying problem would be the BLM Solar Plan and BLM Sustainability Rule. Similar challenges have resulted from planning and staffing around protecting cultural resources and efforts that elevate possible impacts on limited portions of communities above clearly identified problems for all the community. Frustrations grow when these challenges result from dedicated funding in federal budgets to expand cultural or historic planning efforts, such as the large general budgetary funding directed towards the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. This efforts have resulted from  employees that simply lack an understanding of federal planning as exemplified by efforts on several Ranger District where existing signs could not be replaced until a complete cultural inventory could be completed.

We are also aware of the compelling financial challenges facing the Country as a whole and are hoping this input will allow better understanding of how to address those financial challenges as well. The current level of disfunction results from many forces, some of which are addressed in the DOGE Proposals and others remain outside these Proposals.  Some of these challenges have resulted from recent changes with the agencies and others are the result of longer-term pressure on the agency. While the Organizations are aware that there is significant overlap of some of these categories and often these categories lack clearly defined boundaries, we hope these classifications streamline discussions.

2(a) Challenges within scope of DOGE legislation – Budgeting process.

While there have been many stimulus-type funding supplements for the agencies we work with, over this time we are also aware that basic operating budgets for the agencies have declined significantly and the budgeting process has been cumbersome at best. This situation creates major concern for any budget adjustments or reductions being proposed, such as the DOGE bundle of proposes board recissions in funding.

In our experience, a primary long-term challenge for our federal partners has been budgeting process for the agencies.  While many components of the Proposal address portions of the funding level challenges, the Organizations are raising this issue in the hope this information will lead to the most effective reforms possible. It has been our experience has been that often-simple changes to the budgeting process can yield major benefits.  One of the most effective reforms we have experienced was the “fire borrowing fix” that Congress provided to the Agencies in 2018, which resulted in far greater consistency and predictability for managers with their existing funds.  When managers were able to understand future funding at some level, our partnerships were able to identify shortfalls that can be addressed with grants to managers that leverage budget shortfalls for important projects. Some project driven challenges we can embrace and address and others are simply outside the scope of our programs or partnerships but are major barriers.

As an example of the impact of the lack of a consistent basic budget to effectively manage and create long-term responses based upon using partner resources would be the housing and compensation issues facing employees. Even with stimulus funding many federal staff we work with are unable to afford to live in the communities they are managing the lands around and this is an ongoing barrier to success on the ground. We are aware of several forests looking at proving housing on federal lands for their employees and that there are discussions around reducing or removing income taxes on salaries of federal employees in order to provide a more competitive salary package for the employees. These are responses that are outside the scope of the DOGE Proposal and outside the scope of our partnerships these are barriers that can only be resolved with a basic budget for the agency that supports consistent staff working with partners and fixing problems.

Any response must recognize that certain agencies were provided FAR more funding under stimulus Proposals while other agencies were largely ignored for funding support. While we understand that some agencies are perceived to provide opportunities that are more valuable to the public or span the entire country, this does not alter the fact that these agencies also manage a tiny percentage of the Federal land ownership.  We would ask that basic equity be provided in the budgeting process for all land management agencies as all acres of federal lands are valuable to the public, regardless of the management agency. We would ask for the creation of a sustainable budget in the DOGE process without earmarks or other restrictions before addressing cuts. Understanding the shortfalls of existing budgeting and impacts of stimulus type spending will ensure that a more efficient and effective management process is developed from the DOGE efforts.

It has been our experience that legislative efforts that adopted a bottom-up effort to support the agencies budgets have worked better than legislative efforts that adopted a top-down model for their efforts. Trying to resolve challenges without an accurate understanding of the challenges rarely succeeds and many of the recent stimulus bills have adopted this top-down management model.  As an example, we saw significant benefits from the Great American Outdoors Act funding that started in 2020 as this effort adopted a bottom-up model of proposal development.  Other later efforts were far less effective despite providing exponentially larger amounts of funding as too often arbitrary goals were included with the subsequent funding that ignored on-the-ground challenges. While this distinction may seem small the impacts are significant.  The Organizations would support development of a basic operational budget as this would be applying the same bottom-up model of management we have seen to be successful and avoids creating conflicts.

2(b) Challenge within scope of DOGE legislation – Overall staffing levels.

One of the most consistent problems the Organizations have experienced is the complete lack of permanent federal staff in most offices we work with, and this issue appears to be worse than positions available to fix issues on the ground. This concern is most directly addressed in the Federal Freeze Act provision of the DOGE bundle.  Most offices have had skeleton crews for many years, and we commonly see 50% or more of positions open in offices or occupied by people in an acting role.  Many of our state programs provide funding to hire agency staff to perform trail maintenance and other roles.  It has become all too common that more than 50% of this funding is returned as agency staff is never hired. Even when we are hiring crews and funding agency employees, managers must participate in the process. This is an immense barrier to management and partnerships as we cannot collaborate with an empty desk.  The Organizations have heard similar concerns from almost every partner we work with on this issue. We address possible responses to this issue outside mere funding in section 3(b) of these comments but are including these concerns here simply to ensure the true scope of the challenge is recognized.

The challenges that this situation present are immense. These challenges are compounded when offices are hiring staff to engage with a particular community or interest, while they are closing their offices to the general public due to a lack of staff for the public office. This is a situation that has not been resolved and may have been made worse with many of the top-down mandates of the stimulus bills.  While there may be staff to create reports or engage with particular communities, the general public engagement has declined significantly and too often this is overlooked.  Efforts such as the “community navigators” effort and efforts to “connect communities with trees” from the USFS and the connecting communities efforts from the BLM can only work if on the ground staffing issues are addressed.  Closing offices to public access due to a lack of staff to support these other initiatives will not be successful. Rather than improving engagement, the result of this situation is all members of the public are simply equally underserved, and no problems are actually resolved.

2(c) Challenges within scope of DOGE legislation – Allocation of existing staff.

It has been the Organizations experience that generally federal land management agencies are horribly short on staff who are employed to actually fix problems, which compounds the critical shortage of staff generally. Generally, the availability of staff who primarily use a shovel to fix problems has declined, while the number of management staff that use a pen has greatly increased. Often staff generating reports and strategies entirely lacked on-the-ground experience with the agency, which only compounded the shortage of on-the-ground employees. In other situations,  agency staff  simply was not in the right place to resolve issues on the ground but were forced to address political goals of funding.

We are raising this concern as several portions of the DOGE bundle of legislative proposals seek to return employees to the Office or the SHOW UP act.  While returning employees to the office maybe critically needed for many agencies, if agency staff for land management agencies increases in the office, we would be VERY concerned.  Stimulus funding appeared to target more office-based staff and may have accelerated existing trends of more administrative staff than field or seasonal staff.  Often seasonal type positions did not benefit from stimulus funding at the same levels of resources directed to political goals. Put another way, we need less GS10 plus positions working in the offices and actually hire more GS 5-10 positions working to fix problems and working with partners.

We would like to highlight a couple of our experiences to allow understanding of the cumulative impacts poor alignment of on the ground operations with landscape efforts  as they extend far beyond closing offices to the public.  We are aware of several Offices that have undergone extensive trail bridge inventories funded by stimulus money. These trail bridge inventories were rapidly performed as stimulus money was starting to expire and staff failed to engage partner groups or local community leaders who would be impacted by the decisions of the inventory.  Many of these partners had bridges where repairs were shovel ready and then not addressed as the inventory was given priority.  Engagement did not occur despite the fact these partners had safely maintained these trail bridges for decades with almost no federal support  and often existing bridge maintenance schedules are further behind than ever before after the inventory.

This failure created immense and immediate problems as inventories applied highway bridge standards for trail bridges, despite objections of partners.  Concerns from partners that highway standards for bridges were impossible to comply with and could functionally made the project impossible to complete were simply overlooked. When the partners who would be responsible for repairing these resources continued to press managers around concerns on this issue, these concerns exploded when partners learned  these “inventories” may not have even been in writing and were performed by minimally trained staff. As a result of this inventory by poorly trained agency staff, agencies are now pushing for an emergency closure of any bridge found possibly insufficient to comply with highway standards. The impact of this situation on partners exploded when it was disclosed that while stimulus money may have funded the inventory, there is no funding to repair any of the trail bridges. Many of the small communities that are now being asked to support vast new bridge repairs to completely unrealistic standards are the same communities that would be hugely impacted by lost economic contributions to their communities.  The failure of these efforts to be aligned with existing resources is highlighted as there is no mention of the numerous Legislative and Executive Orders in place requiring recreational access and economic benefits to be specifically analyzed and addressed has been provided in discussions.

A second example of these staffing challenges have far ranging impacts is the situations is provided by a situation our local partners have far too frequently encountered.  Many have been the recipients of requirements for emergency response type training as part of  trail volunteer efforts and often made without a basic understanding of costs, training requirements and insurance requirements. This situation is been exemplified by demands that trail maintenance volunteers must be first aid certified, carry emergency radio communication and AED devices along with medical response equipment for the use of efforts well beyond trail maintenance. Some volunteers have been maintaining routes for decades under special recreation permits, and often these new requirements have arisen 3 or 4 years into a 10-year permit. While a desire to provide emergency response is commendable, this is not an effort that should be targeted at a volunteer OHV club performing maintenance. These clubs, and the land managers, are not the proper agency to provide emergency response type services and lack basic training in these areas.  These clubs also cannot get insurance for these types of efforts and the public is largely unwilling to volunteer for these types of efforts simply due to liability concerns. While a large commercial permit operator might be able to absorb these types of demands, a small volunteer club is simply unable to provide this level of support. When our clubs responded to these concerns, it was immediately clear these were issues that were not even thought of when the discussion was opened by the well intentioned manager. The conflict that resulted was immense.

Unfortunately, these situations have extended far beyond the project level into major planning efforts that can span decades.   In our third situation, we engaged with a planning unit to undertake updating a travel plan for snowmobiles in an area identified for expansion of snowmobile opportunities in their new forest plan starting in 2016. By the time overly cautious planners had completed the plan, the snowmobile community had lost most of the opportunities in the planning area due to concerns around user conflicts, ESA issues and many other nonexistent challenges.  This decision was vacated and ordered to be redone to align with the RMP after a decision was issued in 2021. After this court determination, the planning unit had moved to priorities other than the winter travel plan. This situation could only be resolved after letters from every state and federal elected official in the area received requesting the planning effort be restarted.  Despite the passage of several years since the decision being withdrawn, public discussions on access to the area are scheduled to restart in the first quarter of 2025.

In some situations, we have been able to resolve issues like these with existing relationships, often these resolutions have been a VERY long and hugely frustrating process.  In some instances, we had relationships that allowed us to contact supervisors who were willing to step in and address the issues. This has not been the norm, as far too frequently the supervisor was acting or lacked the background or political will to address the challenge.  Often political pressures forced managers to engage with new efforts to protect resources that were never at risk of loss or from initiatives that were never aligned with planning requirements or other initiatives.  The limited effectiveness of some initiatives resulted from additional funding created conflicts with ongoing efforts rather than resolving conflicts.  Resolving these types of impacts will be a challenge as these failures stopped projects and often broke trust between managers and partners.

The Organizations believe full transparency on this issue is important as some projects have experienced challenges and stalled, others projects have resolved challenges raced forward with implementation and found huge success.  The conflict created from these situations is compounded by the fact that many offices have been highly effective in using the same resources to reopen trails that had been ignored for decades or heavily impacted by fires and floods.  While some Districts have completed very little on the ground, adjacent district worked with partners and effectively used similar resources for maintenance and reopened hundreds of miles of trails that had been fire impacted and not maintained for decades. The stark contrast between the effectiveness of these Offices did not resolve conflict or build trust with partners.

2(c) Challenge within scope of DOGE legislation – too many unproductive meetings.

The failure to align local and national efforts has also created challenges for partners simply due to the large number of repetitive meetings our representatives must attend. The portions of the DOGE bundle that most directly relates to this concern is the Relocating Federal Bureaucracy Act.  The growth of office staff has resulted in new challenges for partners, which is mainly that there are too many meetings with overlapping jurisdictions and efforts.  Often local and regional outreach efforts are poorly coordinated and we end up collaborating on the same issue multiple times or are engaged in issues that are not directly related to the challenges we are concerned about simply to avoid problems arising when efforts get off track.

This type of situation has been consistently exhibited by the newly Congressionally designated Foundation for public lands for the BLM. In our meetings with representatives, these presentations have lacked substance or even a basic understanding of who they are presenting too. This simply creates conflicts on the ground.  We often hear from local partners that are looking for guidance on how to resolve the occurrence of multiple meetings on the same evenings.  This has proven difficult as many assert to be solving the same issues.   We would ask that rather than having more meetings, we have better meetings to address issues in a coordinated and thoughtful manner.

3(a) Unresolved challenges- permitting process and expanding scope of partners.

The Organizations are also aware of numerous existing programs that remain badly in need of reform and this reform has never occurred.  The permitting process for events have almost stalled completely as a result of these types of issues and challenges.  The Organizations have developed a detailed white paper on this issue which is available upon request.   Some of these concerns were addressed in the recently passed Explore Act but many were not. Unfortunately, permitting challenges extend beyond events, as far too often partner maintenance efforts were managed as for profit permittees rather than partner efforts to support the Offices. The host of problems this has created are immense.  This resulted in immense conflict with overly strict applications of general permitting requirements being applied to partner efforts. While it may be acceptable to require first aid training and medical equipment be provided by a for profit outfitter, these types of requirements are an immense burden on a volunteer or partner funded trail crew. May not be reimbursable under grants that are funding the project and often are not covered by insurance that is obtained.  Many volunteers are more than willing to maintain trails but have little interest in volunteer emergency response efforts as they are simply not trained in this area and are unwilling to accept the liability from this type of response.

3(b) Unresolved challenges – inflexible Federal hiring processes and overly restrictive management models.

One of the largest barriers we have encountered with land managers has been their inability to hire lower level staff through the federal hiring process. We raise this issue as these challenges extend beyond funding and budgeting and seem to disproportionally impact staff at levels where their job is to fix problems on the ground which compounds budgeting and funding issues.  Some of the most successful efforts in making land management efforts more efficient and effective have not involved cutting or expanding budgets but rather resolving barriers in the process of management exemplified by Fire Borrowing fix provided by Congress in 2018.  The Organizations vigorously assert that the federal hiring process is another example of an issue that could be resolved without spending significant funding.  It has been our experience that immense barriers to hiring have resulted from the centralized hiring process and USAJobs.com platform for USFS and BLM staff.  While we are aware this process was implemented to create efficiency, the Organizations would submit the impact has been exactly the opposite, especially at lower-level positions.

The Organizations would submit that reforming and refining the usajobs.com website would be  a major step forward as many positions simply do not warrant hiring solely from the federal database.  The failure of the usajobs.com process is foundational.  While a USFS Forest Supervisor or BLM Field Office Manager may be willing to relocate for that level of position, any assertion that the centralized hiring process benefits lower level positions would be misplaced.  Lower-level employees often are unwilling or unable to relocate long distances for temporary positions, making any assertion of efficiency of this model for these positions problematic at best.  The Usajobs.com hiring process is horribly slow and often jobs are only open to apply for at times of the year that are unrelated to the timing of the position.  Seasonal hires and lower-level GS employees simply will not apply months in advance for a position that may only last a few months.  The overly formalized nature of usajobs.com is further evidenced by the fact that often employees who comply with overly strict requirements for positions are not good fits for the position. Too often we have seen equipment operator positions advertised as needing a 4 year degree but no actual experience operating equipment. This is simply a process failure. Word of mouth and personal invitations to apply for positions has been highly effective in hiring lower level positions and the value of these relationships has been greatly reduced in the usajobs.com formalized process.

While USAjobs is a major barrier we have been able to partner and create improved hiring and retention processes for staff,  such as the adaptation of the hiring process for seasonal employees from purely seasonal employees to permanent seasonal employees.  This change has been the result of managers attempting to retain new hires after they have been trained as a seasonal employee moving them from a seasonal employee to a permanent seasonal employee. This allowed the exceptionally limited recruitment efforts for seasonal and lower level employees to become more effective as these employees now have a career path and this has proven to be a major retention tool for these employees.  This minimal change has made a difference on the ground and gives us hope that even minimal reforms to the usajobs.com process could yield major benefits in recruiting and retaining high quality staff to resolve problems on the ground. Our request would be to undertake a LEAN review applying the six sigma planning process on the entire hiring process for the agencies. While we are unsure of if this is a regulatory requirement, legal requirements or something that could be just undertaken we have performed similar reviews on our grant programs at the State level and the success has been significant.

The Organizations experience with overly formalized and inflexible management processes extend far beyond hiring processes.  Our partners have been far too consistently receiving request for our grant programs to begin paying fleet costs for equipment that the fleet program neither maintains or replaces.  Rather this is equipment that our programs have purchased for land managers who lack the resources to purchase this type of equipment in their budget.  In addition to obtaining this equipment, we also provide funding to hire employees to operate the equipment, train employees and maintain the equipment.  When the equipment has reached the end of its service life, we also expect to provide grant funding to replace or rebuild the equipment. While the Organizations and our partners have accepted all costs of this equipment through our programs, we continue to hear demands for our grants to cover fleet service costs that are “required” for all equipment the agency uses.  Given that we have never found fleet management type programs to have funding to replace or maintain specialized equipment, the frustration from this type of overly rigid process expands when offices have not used our funding to hire staff to operate equipment and then are demanding fleet costs for a piece of equipment that was not used that season as the staff was never hired.

3(c). Unresolved challenges- Many  land management concepts are simply out of date.

The Organizations would vigorously support an overall efficiency review for the hiring process and we would vigorously support this type of review in the lands management process. Many concepts and ideas foundational to planning are simply out of date or resolved almost completely. The Executive Orders governing travel management need to be updated and presumptions around compliance with various requirements could be provided around efforts to date to streamline planning.  As an example, EO 11644 includes provisions commonly identified as the “minimization criteria” for travel planning, which require motorized usage impacts on other uses, wildlife and resources to be minimized. The challenges around the horribly out of date nature of the travel management process is exhibited by the fact the Order has remained almost entirely unchanged since 1972. For comparison, cutting edge technology in the home was an electric toaster.

Not only are the concepts of the minimization criteria badly out of date in these Executive Orders, they are highly arbitrary and poorly defined, which has resulted in huge amounts of litigation and time spent in planning.  In the 50 plus years that have passed since these requirements were put in place, almost every planning area we have engaged with has satisfied the minimization criteria in planning.  Many areas have completed this effort multiple times. We have participated in many planning efforts where mapping of routes and roads can be completed quickly but addressing questions like minimization then takes years to resolve. With the inclusion of a presumption that when a unit is updating travel plans in that unit, that the minimization efforts have been completed already for the area would cut years out of the travel management and planning process. This would result in a far more efficient and effective planning process.

Another example of the efficiency that could be achieved with updating EO 11644 would be exemplified by the challenges that land managers have seen with the use of electric bicycles on public lands.  Ebikes are becoming very common in many areas and are motorized vehicles by definition.  If EO 11644 and other regulations was updated similar low power exceptions could be created for off road usage could be created as have been provided for decade for these vehicles on roads. This would be hugely effective and efficient in providing effective management responses to issues.

3d. Unresolved challenges – Partner/Club liability

The Organizations are in a highly unique position compared to many other recreational interests as a result of the large amount of management staff, equipment and other resources our programs currently provide for public lands.  Despite the fact these programs are highly effective in supplementing land manager budgets, many of our local partners have been pushed towards more active partnerships and roles in public lands management.  Many of our larger clubs have already become 501c3 non-profits and are working as general contractors on projects, buying equipment to lease to land managers and taking many other new roles.  One of the largest barriers we have encountered has been the inability of our clubs to obtain cost-effective insurance for these types of projects and often simply insuring projects and efforts costs more than the effort itself. These clubs are becoming important components of the funding streams and need to be protected like the individual members. Many of our members have spent weeks engaging with insurance companies but have found these types of efforts are simply too small an economic sector for the insurer and the many layers of regulatory steps on public lands makes the process far too complex. As a result, these insurers simply walk away from a highly complex niche market for their product.

The Organizations are aware that there are many protections provided to federal land managers to reduce individual risks and liability from management efforts they donate on public lands. In many states we have succeeded in obtaining limited immunity, similar to that which is provided to the government for many actions, for nonprofit groups providing public benefit projects on public lands. Providing similar levels of protection to nonprofits performing public benefit projects  federally would provide a large amount of protections to our organizations in a far more streamlined model than the current jumble of permits, cost share challenge agreements, volunteer agreements and possible leases now being explored. This would basically provide similar protections that governmental agencies have had for decades to the nonprofit partners that are now being asked to function as land managers in many areas.

3e. Unresolved challenge -Streamlining NEPA and similar regulations.

The Organizations are very concerned that many of the recent planning efforts that have been undertaken have not streamlined planning efforts but rather added significant new levels of complexity to planning. The newly released BLM Sustainability Rule will be a significant barrier to land management efforts for decades and not provide significant new funding for federal lands. The BLM Solar is structured to disproportionately impact multiple use recreational infrastructure. Generally, many of these national level plans have not been well received with state or local BLM offices. Our experiences with the newly Congressionally designated Foundation for America’s Public lands have been marginal at best as often presenters have demonstrated an exceptionally poor understanding of efforts in place. These will be major challenges to correct.

While we have experienced many challenges from new regulations, we are also pleased that US Forest Service efforts to streamline planning efforts have been successful. In 2019 the USFS finalized regulations under 36 CFR Part 220 for USFS to effectively use CE planning requirements to create benefits on the ground.  Currently BLM does not have this ability and we would vigorously assert that these regulations should be clearly provided  under BLM regulations as well.  Many forests have been periodically meeting to streamline and facilitate CE efforts on small projects, which in isolation could be a major benefit that would be easily overlooked.  Regulations are now being used to effectively and efficiently provide sustainable recreational opportunities on public lands.

4. Conclusion.

The Organizations vigorously support development of sustainable resources and have been actively involved in efforts to achieve these goals for decades. We welcome this effort and would like to provide input around our experiences with general issues and challenges addressed in these Proposals to date.  We would also like to identify several factors we have experienced in our partnerships with various federal agencies that have created systemic inefficiencies that are not addressed in the Proposals.  We would welcome further discussions and collaboration on how to make all phases of the federal government more efficient and effective. We are aware this undertaking is massive and will take many years to complete. The Organizations, and all the partners we represent, would like to express a strong  desire is to look back at the completion of this groundbreaking effort and celebrate a successful effort.

The Organizations hope that this dialogue and effort will create a much more efficient and effective management process as generally the agencies we work with are broken.  Some of the issues we are raising could be resolved legislatively and the resolution of other challenges is better suited for rulemaking and others may simply take time to resolve by rebuilding trust between partners.  We are raising all these issues in the hope of building greater understanding of the challenges we are facing and obtaining resolution of those challenges in an coordinated and systemic manner. While recent funding packages have resolved some issues facing public lands, these temporary funding streams have created new challenges as well.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact Scott Jones, Esq. (518-281-5810 / scott.jones46@yahoo.com).

Scott Jones, Esq.
CSA Executive Director
COHVCO Authorized Representative

Chad Hixon
Executive Director
Trails Preservation Alliance

Marcus Trusty
President
CORE

Sandra Mitchell
Executive Director -IRC
Authorized Representative – ISSA

Will Mook
Executive Director
AMPL

Matthew Giltner
Executive Director
Nevada Off-Road Association

 

[1] As an example of the programs we partner through here is a link to the California State OHV program OHMVR Division and Colorado State OHV program Off-Highway Vehicle Grants | Colorado Parks and Wildlife and New Hampshire OHV/OSV programs NH State Parks – Grant-In-Aid.

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BLM Finalized San Rafael Swell Travel Management Plan

Due in large part to your public comments, we are sharing a better than expected outcome from the BLM’s finalized San Rafael Swell Travel Management Plan (TMP) released yesterday afternoon.

While we did lose a few existing single-track trails, in other instances we gained mileage through newly designated OHV-limited routes and other previously undesignated trails that are now designated.

We still believe the baseline inventory of Alternative A (no action) was inaccurate and the BLM still should address other planning needs ahead of this TMP—like amending the Price Field Office Resource Management Plan and developing a Special Recreation Area Management Plan— but we’re grateful this outcome wasn’t worse for off highway motorcycle trail riders.

Your advocacy made a huge impact! With over 6,000 comments submitted, including overwhelming support for the infamous Five Miles of Hell and Waterfall trails, your voices ensured a more positive result for motorcycle recreation.

Thank you for your continued support in protecting our trails – you do make a difference!

To read the full decision, visit https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/1500146/510

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2024 Ride with Respect Year in Review

Ride with Respect logo - ridewithrespect.org
Reprinted with permission
 Ride With Respect Year in Review 2024

www.ridewithrespect.org

 


In 2024, Ride with Respect (RwR) focused on fighting a wave of excessive restrictions to recreational access that swept across Utah while continuing our stewardship work around Moab. If you love motorized trails, and haven’t already volunteered or donated this year, you can still send a check to Ride with Respect, 395 McGill Avenue, Moab Utah 84532. (Be sure to indicate if you’d like the receipt to show 2024 for tax-deduction purposes.) RwR has been blessed with many contributors at every level, including these ones who gave over a thousand dollars this year:

  1. Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation (UDOR)
  2. Anonymous
  3. Trails Preservation Alliance (TPA)
  4. Peter Lawson
  5. Moab Tour Company
  6. KMAC Corporation
  7. Anonymous
  8. Balance Resources
  9. Rob Stickler
  10. Grand County Recreation Special Service District
  11. John Borg
  12. Rocky Mountain ATV/MC
  13. Timberline Trailriders
  14. Xtreme 4×4 Tours
  15. Dave McEuen, CPA for HEB Business Solutions

Trail Work

Maintaining and improving trails is a key component to keep them open and enjoyable for all kinds of visitors as well as the animal inhabitants. In 2024 RwR staff and volunteers spent another few-hundred hours performing trail work (see photos), mostly state land like Sovereign Trail and Upper Twomile, but also on federal land in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS). This year much of our work was in tandem with UDOR’s new regional trail crew that’s based in Moab to work on motorized and non-motorized trails in southeast Utah. As the state is increasingly investing in this crew, it is our privilege to share RwR’s knowledge of the Moab-area trails, types of trail work, and tools for getting it done. As the state steps up in this way, RwR will continue to help maximize the productivity of UDOR’s regional trail crew.

Additionally RwR has organized several OHV trail hosts who volunteer monthly to perform light-duty maintenance, promote minimum-impact practices, and monitor conditions. Finally RwR has assisted the Motorized Trails Committee (MTC) of Grand County to do several-hundred hours of its own trail work in 2024. For the fifth year, I (Clif) was proud to chair the MTC, which has enjoyed regular attendance from BLM and Grand County staff, as well as long-time MTC members like Jeff Stevens, Kathy Tustanowski, Dave Hellman, Zane Taylor, Reid Bakken, Nick Oldham, Jason Taylor, and Dave Cozzens. This year’s most notable MTC rake & rides were to White Knuckle Hill and the Cliffhanger Waterfall where we ramped the rock ledges of less-difficult lines while leaving the more-difficult lines untouched.

Education

This past year, RwR encouraged responsible recreation practices through routine measures like hosting a booth at the Green River Dirt Bike Rally. Education is a significant outcome of my time volunteering on the BLM’s Utah Resource Advisory Council along with the board of three other nonprofits. NOHVCC and the American Motorcyclist Association continue to do important work that all trail riders should support. The Utah Public Lands Alliance (UPLA) has emerged as the most active statewide coalition of recreational access advocates. Last month UPLA released this video introducing the most tax-efficient ways to support any 501c3 organization.

RwR assisted the MTC to refine educational messages this past year. In several ways, the MTC provided input on the development of Grand County’s Motorized Trail Ambassador program, which is primarily funded by a state Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation (OHVR) grant. Also the MTC began to identify minimum-impact practices specific to graded roads (see attached “2024-09-10 MTC letter re graded-road education”). When OHV operators become aware of the cost to maintain graded roads for all types of use, they’re more likely to minimize wheelspin and moderate speed (especially around blind corners) so that everyone can safely use and enjoy graded roads. Such cooperation would prevent the need to strictly enforce a 25-mph speed limit, which doesn’t account for things like road alignment, ground conditions, vehicle width, vehicle capability, or operator experience.

The Utah OHV Program intends to more directly address graded roads in its education. Utah OHV Program manager Chase Pili is transferring to the DNR’s new Division of Law Enforcement, but his successor can utilize education specialists within UDOR. In just three years since UDOR was established, Chase helped develop an adult OHV education course, regional trail crews, and the evolution of OHV-related grant programs. We appreciate Chase’s accomplishments and his ability to take challenges in stride while serving responsible OHV recreation. We trust that Chase will continue serving it through his new position.

E-Bike use of Moab Mountain Bike Trails

As with UTVs, e-bikes (bicycles with electric motors to boost power) offer new recreation opportunities that also call for additional management. The BLM’s Moab Field Office wisely initiated an Environmental Assessment (EA) to analyze the effects of potentially allowing Class 1 e-bikes (limited to 750 watts of power up to 20 mph through pedal assistance and no throttle) on all of its trails that are currently open to analog (non-electric) mountain bikes with the exception of those that enter wilderness study areas (WSAs) or USFS land.

RwR assisted the MTC in producing recommendations to the Grand County Commission (see second page of attached “2024-11-08 RwR comm re e-bikes on MTB trails”). Essentially the MTC recommended asking the BLM to:

  1. Plan for the growing continuum of electric two-wheelers (from Class 1 e-bikes to electric motorcycles) largely by improving the quality and quantity of existing motorized singletrack,
  2. Include an alternative in the Draft EA that would fully consider allowing Class 1 e-bike use of all the trails listed in scoping, and
  3. Work with other government entities and industry to further establish e-bike classification that’s enforceable so that it’s manageable.

The Grand County Commission drafted a letter that included the MTC’s first point, but excluded the second and third points, instead supporting the Trail Mix Committee’s suggestion to only open the MOAB Brands trail system to Class 1 e-bikes for now in order to see how it goes. At the commission meeting, I reiterated the MTC’s points (minutes 0:03:30 to 0:08:00 of this video). Then the commission deliberated (minutes 0:56:00 to 1:19:00) and ultimately approved its draft letter unchanged. Nevertheless the BLM could choose to develop one alternative that opens the MOAB Brands trails to e-bikes, and another alternative that opens all the listed trails. Further, the new commission will have a chance to comment on the Draft EA in 2025.

In the meantime, RwR chose to support the MTC’s recommendations, and we incorporated them into the comments that RwR submitted to the BLM. While we appreciate Trail Mix’s concerns and suggestions, we also appreciate the years of research and serious thought that went into the MTC recommendations. Ultimately we believe that the input of both committees should be analyzed by the alternatives of a Draft EA.

Labyrinth Rims TMP

As described in our 2023 Year in Review, the BLM decision to close 317 miles of designated routes in the Labyrinth Rims/Gemini Bridges travel management plan (TMP) is being appealed by RwR in partnership with TPA, COHVCO, and CORE. This year we challenged the completeness of the administrative record (AR) since it’s supposed to include Labyrinth Rims correspondence that was directly or indirectly considered by the decisionmaker who, in this case, is the manager of the Moab Field Office. We know of such correspondence between the decisionmaker and all higher levels of the BLM (Canyon Country District, Utah State office, and the headquarters in D.C. including the BLM’s deputy director who actually represented the Wilderness Society in 2017 when signing the settlement agreement that directed the BLM to revisit its TMP in Labyrinth Rims). After much back-and-forth, the BLM provided several more documents, which inform our appeal through the IBLA as well as the companion case that the State of Utah and BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) are spearheading in federal court. However even more relevant correspondence exists, and we don’t know how the IBLA will handle it, but we are optimistic that the BLM will be more willing to accommodate motorized recreation opportunities after the change of administration.

In fact, we anticipate that the next administration will close far fewer routes in Utah through the TMPs and will add far fewer new restrictions to its resource management plans (RMPs). The planning participation and appeals of all these OHV groups along with the State of Utah has laid the groundwork for this course correction. Now we must follow through to ensure a reasonable outcome in Labyrinth Rims and elsewhere across the state.

This past February, this newspaper article described how most motorized trail enthusiasts believe that the Labyrinth Rims closures resulted from the BLM being largely captured by groups seeking to vastly expand the designation of wilderness, which prohibits mechanized travel including bicycling, while other motorized trail enthusiasts believe the closures resulted from excessive negative impacts of the motorized routes. Unfortunately both camps are correct. Decisions like the Labyrinth Rims closures were in fact primarily influenced by wilderness-expansion groups through the current administration, which calls for resistance through engagement in the administrative, legislative, and judicial branches. However excessive negative impacts greatly enable the wilderness-expansion groups to win the sympathy of some land managers, local residents, and even judges.

To deny the influence of negative impacts, some point to the fact that most of the Labyrinth Rims closures occurred where motorized use is relatively low, and that most of the BLM’s stated rationale was not based on misbehavior by motorized users. However this denial overlooks a couple major points. First, the official BLM rationale often differs from the real motivation for closure, as the agency may use whatever excuse seems most likely to hold up in court. Perhaps the agency realizes courts would rule that misbehavior is most appropriately corrected at the level of the individual perpetrator rather than an entire user group. Perhaps the agency believes it’d be more difficult for motorized trail enthusiasts to refute a resource specialist’s claim of potential impacts. Second, the level of use doesn’t equate to the level of impact, and assuming that use equals impact is exactly why land managers often close routes with use levels that are lower currently. They leave routes of higher use alone because they’re popular and the damage is already done, but they close routes of lower use to prevent the eventual spread of use and the negative impacts that they assume will inevitably follow.

Fortunately in reality the level of use is merely one factor in the level of impact. Other factors include individual behavior (which is influenced by education and enforcement) along with the route’s location, trail design, maintenance, and other forms of management. In Labyrinth Rims, RwR spent a couple-thousand hours rerouting a couple-dozen trails, which were problem spots where RwR proposed a solution that the BLM analyzed and approved for RwR to then implement. In 2023, all but three of the two-dozen reroutes were spared from closure. RwR and its partners are currently appealing the closure of those three reroutes because the BLM’s rationale simply doesn’t add up. Nevertheless we credit the BLM for its work on the other twenty-one reroutes, which probably would’ve been closed if not for RwR’s work, thus the investment was worthwhile for motorized recreationists along with the conservation benefits. Although legal work and other advocacy are essential ingredients, helping land managers solve problems can pay off because agency decisions are sometimes based on realities on the ground.

Even when those in the administrative, legislative, or judicial branches understand that recreation can be managed in a more sophisticated manner than simply containing a problem, excessive negative impacts nevertheless provide them with political cover to close routes because they mistakenly hope closure will be easier than active management. This cover is effective even when the closures and impacts don’t align geographically. So it’s on us to call out premature closure, yet it’s also on us to promote responsible riding practices and the stewardship of public lands. Basic measures like staying precisely on the trail and slowing down when passing other people or animals serves the interest of our own form of recreation, the public, and the planet.

Dolores River TMP

The Moab Field Office initiated another TMP as directed by the 2017 settlement, this one called Dolores River because it covers routes on both sides of the river (east to the Colorado state line and west to the beginning of Top of The World Trail) from Polar Mesa at the south end to Dry Gulch at the north end. Again in partnership with TPA, COHVCO, and CORE, RwR submitted these scoping comments emphasizing that a thorough route inventory is needed to meet the 2017 settlement’s intent of revisiting the 2008 TMP decision, then we gave a couple examples of valuable and viable existing routes that were inventoried but closed in 2008, plus a couple examples of valuable and viable existing routes that weren’t even inventoried in 2008 and ought to finally be considered for designation. Our comments also emphasized that the 2017 settlement may require developing an alternative that closes routes in WSAs and natural areas, but not in other lands with wilderness characteristics (LWCs) where the RMP decided not to manage for wilderness characteristics. Further, closing routes for wilderness characteristics in those LWCs would contradict the RMP. Finally we emphasized that the forthcoming draft EA should fully account for the fact that most closures would negatively impact local socio-economics, reduce the trail system’s carrying capacity, reduce practical access for non-motorized uses, reduce compliance of the TMP, reduce sustainability of the remaining routes, increase crowding and conflicts, reduce the stewardship capacity of motorized recreation groups, and reduce the agency’s readiness for emerging technologies such as electric vehicles.

The Grand County Commission drafted a letter very similar to its 2021 request for so many closures in Labyrinth Rims, so RwR commented during their meeting (minutes 0:23:00 to 0:29:30 of this video). Then the commission deliberated (minutes 2:52:00 to 3:31:30) and ultimately approved its draft letter with slight improvements to acknowledge that it may be appropriate for motorized routes to cross riparian areas and that topography can be factored in to meet the commission’s request for 30% of the planning area to be at least 0.5 miles from any motorized route and 15% of the planning area to be at least 1 mile from any motorized route. The meeting is summarized in this newspaper article. RwR welcomes these improvements, but they should go much further to achieve the balance espoused by the commission’s letter, and we look forward to working with the next commission on the forthcoming Draft EA.

San Rafael Swell TMP

Another TMP that’s just as important as Labyrinth Rims is the San Rafael Swell, which actually includes Chimney Rock to the northeast and the Mussentuchit area to the southwest. The BLM released a Draft EA with only one acceptable alternative (Alternative D). The more that RwR, TPA, COHVCO, and CORE investigated the Swell TMP, the more fundamental problems we found, so we wound up commenting in a first, second, and third wave. Before doing a TMP, the BLM should complete its overdue congressional requirement to implement the Dingell Act by amending the Price RMP so a management direction is established for the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area and acres released from WSA status among other things. Then, for accurate TMP analysis, the no-action alternative should reflect the fact that no TMP has yet to be completed for much of the planning area (which is why the 2008 RMP aimed to complete its TMP within five years, only to be stalled by SUWA’s RMP suit that culminated in the 2017 settlement). The planning area also includes over a hundred miles of existing routes that were permanently closed by Dingell Act wilderness designation, which displaces use that should be accommodated by the San Rafael Swell TMP. The Draft EA mistakenly assumed that closing hundreds of miles of routes, as in alternatives B and C, would have negligible socio-economic impact on Emery and Wayne counties. In fact, closing just one trail like Five Miles of Hell or Waterfall Trail, as in Alternative B, couldn’t be replaced in comparable terrain because the Dingell Act prohibits the construction of new motorized routes in the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area or the 17 wilderness areas in Emery County. Also alternatives B and C propose to disproportionately close routes in LWC, which suggests that closures would be for the purpose of minimizing impacts to wilderness characteristics despite no such directive coming from the Dingell Act, 2017 settlement, 2008 RMP, or (most importantly) Congress.

At the tail end of 2024, the BLM released a decision that’s essentially a hybrid of alternatives B and C, which is inadequate for all the aforementioned reasons, so we are prepared to appeal it. Hopefully, under the next administration, the BLM will see the wisdom of regrouping to build a more solid foundation. The Swell is renowned for motorized trails, and the Dingell Act designated half of it as wilderness, so the remaining half will depend on developing a TMP more thoroughly.

Henry Mountains TMP

The Henry Mountains/Fremont Gorge TMP covers nearly 1.5 million acres from Factory Butte down to Ticaboo and everything between Capital Reef National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area such as the OHV route from Big Ridge down to Poison Spring Canyon. The BLM released a draft EA but, as RwR, TPA, COHVCO, and CORE explained in our comments, it’s based on a route inventory that’s still missing hundreds of miles of existing routes that have never been acknowledged let alone analyzed for designation to date. The Richfield RMP acknowledges the 2008 TMP’s incompleteness, pledging to collaborate with interested parties and add routes, yet the BLM still hasn’t formally invited the public to submit routes since RMP scoping in 2003. Since 2008, the BLM has added 146 miles to its inventory, yet it misses hundreds more. Many of these miles have high recreational value and low negative impacts, and we provided several examples, from the outskirts of Hanksville to the top of the Henry Mountains. All action alternatives of the draft EA disproportionately close routes in LWCs despite having no directive to minimize impacts to wilderness characteristics. The draft EA fails to recognize the socio-economic impacts to Wayne County that any alternative would have, even the no-action alternative since actually implementing it would block access to hundreds of miles of existing routes that have been in continuous use since most of the area was open to cross-country travel prior to 2008. We hope the BLM will resolve these issues to develop a TMP that provides adequate access for all kinds of recreation particularly as places like Labyrinth Rims and the Swell become crowded.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area TMP

Congress established the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in 1972 for the National Park Service (NPS) “to provide for the public outdoor recreation use and enjoyment of Lake Powell and lands adjacent thereto in the states of Arizona and Utah and to preserve the scenic, scientific, and historic features contributing to the public enjoyment of the area.” In 2021 the NPS began limiting motorized travel to designated routes in the vast majority of the 1.25-million-acre recreation area, which makes sense, but they designated just 388 miles of route. Perpetually in search of further restrictions, the wilderness-expansion groups sued and settled so the NPS would consider just that. Unfortunately in 2024 the NPS proposed to prohibit OHV use from another 25 miles of dirt roads. The roads would be closed to full-size vehicles and motorcycles that aren’t registered for interstate highway use as well as all ATVs and UTVs regardless of whether a state permits them for street use. As explained in the comments submitted by RwR, TPA, COHVCO, and CORE, the 25 miles of dirt road are entirely appropriate for all types of OHV, and the NPS failed to demonstrate any need for its proposed prohibition. A few of the roads are even maintained to a higher standard by counties and the State of Utah, all of which have emphatically expressed support to accommodate OHV use of the roads, and they offer millions of dollars in grants to help manage routes that are open to OHV use. Several of the roads provide the only access to spurs and loops on BLM land in the Richfield and Monticello field offices. Others simply provide significant recreational value in their own right. We hope the NPS will come to its senses and decide to continue managing the recreation area like a recreation area.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument RMP

As described in our 2023 Year in Review, the BLM released a Draft RMP for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, in which every action alternative would be a lot more restrictive than any prior RMP of this national monument.

This past August, the BLM released a Proposed RMP for Grand Staircase that’s as draconian as the Draft RMP, so it’s being protested by RwR, TPA, COHVCO, and CORE. Nearly all of the 1.86-million-acre monument was zoned as OHV Limited (with motor vehicles limited to designated routes), yet the proposed RMP zones two thirds of it as OHV Closed, and yet the BLM’s justification for this sweeping restriction consists of just a few sentences. The agency argues that it’ll require closing only the V-Road, and nearly half of the monument is already WSA. However its impact analysis of closing the V-Road is nearly non-existent, let alone the other routes that aren’t designated but nevertheless exist, including some R.S. 2477 roads in the WSAs. The fact that WSAs already occupy nearly half the monument is all the more reason to leave the remainder open for non-wilderness uses.

The Proposed RMP adds a couple designations under most of the acres that it zones as OHV Closed. First it designates these acres as Primitive Areas, which is not to be confused with the congressional designation of a Primitive Area, rather it’s a lower-level decision to manage the given acres “without motorized or mechanized recreational access.” By prohibiting mechanized recreational access, it’s even more restrictive than OHV Closed zoning. Second, most of the OHV Closed acres are LWC, and the Proposed RMP chooses to manage nearly all LWC for its wilderness characteristics. Not only can’t managers approve any new route in LWCs that are managed for wilderness characteristics, but they typically can’t approve any use of heavy equipment to maintain the existing routes, thus it’s yet another layer that hobbles recreation opportunities and practical management.

The proposed RMP provides no site-specific or even area-by-area analysis of these three sweeping designations that essentially preempt any TMP work from ever occurring in two thirds of the monument. Areas zoned as OHV Limited already tend to become 99% closed in practice, yet zoning them as OHV Closed prevents any future consideration of even a mile of e-bike trail or a campground loop, even if the very purpose of a new route is to reduce net impacts or protect monument objects. Many of the OHV Closed boundaries run right up to the edge of designated routes, thereby straitjacketing routes from potential rerouting, despite that many such routes are essential to the monument proclamation’s goal of “providing visitors with an opportunity to experience a remote landscape rich with opportunities for adventure and self-discovery.” We’ll continue to challenge any presidentially proclaimed monument from becoming a stepping stone to de facto wilderness or, in the case of Grand Staircase, a leaping stone to 1.25-million acres of de facto wilderness.

Bears Ears National Monument RMP

The BLM released a preliminary Draft RMP (aka MMP) for Bears Ears National Monument described in RwR’s 2022 Year in Review. This past March, the BLM released a Draft RMP that portrayed the no-action alternative somewhat more accurately, but further developed action alternatives with alarming ramifications, so RwR, TPA, COHVCO, and CORE submitted extensive comments. Given that the 1.36-million-acre monument extends from Mexican Hat north the whole way to Chicken Corners near the Grand County line, the Grand County Commission drafted its own letter, and RwR commented during their meeting (minutes 2:12:00 to 2:17:00 of this video). The commission deliberated (minute 3:17:00 to 3:44:00) and approved its draft letter while incorporating a couple of RwR’s points, first that the RMP should avoid excessive restrictions to any form of recreation, and second that local outfitting and guiding services should continue to be accommodated. While RwR still differs with parts of the approved letter, especially given that proclamation of the monument bypassed Congress in the first place, we sincerely appreciate the commission for starting to build consensus.

Unfortunately in October the BLM released a Proposed RMP which had so many unacceptable aspects that the final points of protest from RwR, TPA, COHVCO, and CORE merely scratched the surface. Similar to Grand Staircase, the Bears Ears Proposed RMP zones nearly half of the monument as OHV Closed, and yet the BLM’s justification for this sweeping restriction consists of just a few sentences plus the excuse that the NPS requested consistency surrounding Canyonlands National Park. For one thing, consistency is already achieved since motor vehicles are already limited to designated routes on both sides of the park boundary. For another thing, unlike Bears Ears National Monument, Canyonlands National Park was actually established by Congress, and Congress chose the current park boundary so that management would be different on each side. The agency argues that zoning nearly half of the monument as OHV Closed will require closing only 32 miles of designated routes, but its impact analysis of closing these routes is nearly non-existent despite that we submitted photos and described the value of many of these routes. The agency also argues that nearly one third of the monument is already WSA or Dark Canyon Wilderness, but that’s all the more reason to leave the remainder open for non-wilderness uses.

Similar to Grand Staircase, the Bears Ears Proposed RMP adds a couple designations under most of the acres that it zones as OHV Closed. First it places these acres into a Remote Zone and, while the earlier Draft RMP didn’t specify that the Remote Zone would be non-motorized, the Proposed RMP inserts that the Remote Zone is explicitly “for non-motorized and non-mechanized recreation.” Second, most of the OHV Closed acres are LWC, and the Proposed RMP chooses to manage nearly all LWC for its wilderness characteristics. While some of it would be managed “to minimize impacts” to wilderness characteristic instead of “to protect” wilderness characteristics, which would be a less-restrictive form of wilderness management, this distinction appears to be the latest iteration to rationalize a perpetual wilderness review that expands and never contracts wilderness management. After exhausting the Section 202 areas, one administration conceived of ostensibly just inventorying LWC but actually designating some of them as natural areas, and now another administration introduces RMP decisions to merely minimize impacts to the remaining LWC as if it’s not the next stage of a ratchet strap that has no release mechanism. Anyway the Proposed RMP provides no site-specific or even area-by-area analysis of these three sweeping designations that essentially preempt any TMP work from ever occurring in nearly half of the monument.

While closing nearly half of the monument is better than two thirds as in Grand Staircase, the Bears Ears Proposed RMP is actually worse in several ways. First, across the 200,000 acres of LWC managed to protect wilderness characteristics, it prohibits Special Recreation Permits (SRPs) for any motorized or mechanized use even if it’s non-commercial. Second, it directs a soundscape management plan for hundreds of thousands of acres that would allow louder sounds for half of the time, but would limit sound for the other half of the time to 30 dBA or even 25 dBA. Such low levels of sound are easily exceeded by slight wind or light rain, which makes them impractical to monitor, and ultimately less effective than vehicle-based sound standards. Third, in the Manti-La Sal National Forest portion of the monument, the Proposed RMP finally shows the current Recreation Opportunity Spectrum boundaries and designated routes accurately. However these things were completely inaccurate in scoping and the Draft RMP despite our repeated requests to correct them, which impedes the public’s ability to meaningfully participate in the process. Fourth, the Proposed RMP seems to fundamentally regard recreation as more of a nuisance than a key tool to promote the health of visitors and ultimately the health of the surrounding resources by fostering an awareness, appreciation, and ultimately stewardship of public lands.

Fifth, despite that the “Bears Ears cultural landscape” is identified as a monument object to protect through reliance on Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and tribal co-stewardship, it isn’t defined by either the Proposed RMP or the one adopted by the Bears Ears Commission (BEC) that was developed by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (which is an entity that was created a decade ago by a wilderness-expansion group to campaign for the proclamation of a Bears Ears National Monument). The Proposed RMP and the one adopted by the BEC both refer to a single Bears Ears cultural landscape, multiple cultural landscapes within the monument, and other cultural landscapes that extend beyond the monument. Protecting this ill-defined object seems likely to affect recreation given that the plan adopted by the BEC asserts that tribal nations of the monument do not view many forms of recreation as an appropriate use of the Bears Ears cultural landscape. The Proposed RMP even directs the BLM to work with the BEC to identify whether specific areas need to be closed to cross-country hiking to protect BENM objects, which would include the Bears Ears cultural landscape, thus a cross-country hiking prohibition has the potential to be extensive. Another example in the Proposed RMP is that, according to Traditional Indigenous Knowledge, the Bears Ears cultural landscape requires seasonal “rest,” which clearly has the potential to seasonally restrict the entire monument. RwR supports the conservation of natural and cultural resources, particularly archaeological sites since they’re irreplaceable, but the Proposed RMP combines several ill-defined concepts with immense potential to unduly harm all forms of recreation across the 1.36-million-acre monument. To accomplish lasting conservation, we urge the BLM to suspend its grandiose plans in favor of collaborating with all stakeholders to identify what’s actually needed to “protect Bears Ears.”

The seeds of this mess were sown by presidential administrations that pitched Bears Ears as somehow righting the past wrongs done to indigenous people, and that exploited the concept of a cultural landscape to justify the monument’s enormity, specifically to parlay the political momentum of the proposed Cedar Mesa National Monument into a Bears Ears National Monument that accretes the southeast half of the proposed Greater Canyonlands National Monument (no doubt saving the northwest half for later in combination with any other “cultural landscape” that’s deemed worthy of national monument “protection”).

Antiquities Act and Federal Agency Reform

The Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Proposed RMPs, along with even more recent mega-monument proclamations such as Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument that was described in our 2023 Year in Review add to the pile of glaring evidence that presidents aren’t using the Antiquities Act of 1906 to protect antiquities so much as to dictate federal-land designations (one million acres after the next) that are actually the purview of Congress. This violation of the separation of powers has been addressed in our Year in Review going back to 2012 when RwR responded to the proposed Greater Canyonlands National Monument, which was followed by the Utah Public Lands Initiative as a good-faith legislative alternative developed from 2012 through 2016, then the 2016 proclamation of Bears Ears National Monument that was scaled back in 2017 only to be made larger than ever in 2021. Our 2021 Year in Review described Bears Ears in the context of the three branches of federal government.

Now we’d like to address what’s next. After thirteen years of Antiquities Act abuse derailing any consensus for conservation in southeast Utah (and in other regions for even longer), Congress ought to clarify what it means by a monument object and the smallest area compatible with protecting it, or cap the size at 640 acres like the Antiquities Act bill did until an eleventh hour change in 1906. Better yet, simply require congressional approval for monument proclamation because many subsequent laws have eliminated the need for a president to take unilateral action. Unfortunately even the next Congress may not recognize these realities until the judicial branch takes a hard look at proclamations that claim to protect objects like a Bears Ears cultural landscape which remains ill-defined eight years later. Fortunately the 2024 Supreme Court ruling that ends “agency deference” should invite judicial review of agency interpretations for concepts like a monument object and the smallest area compatible with protecting it. Even more fortunately, the State of Utah and BRC are challenging the Bears Ears proclamation itself, and RwR could provide its local perspective.

Over the 23-year history of RwR, not only have presidents become more polarized, but they’ve stepped further outside their lane. Instead of presiding over the executive branch to execute the decisions of Congress, now they’re more prone to simply dictate. Part of the problem is a Congress paralyzed by its own polarization, but it’s not for the president to take the place of Congress, as Congress can work out a compromise while presidents these days just swing the pendulum further back and forth every four years. There are many recent examples of executive overreach, but few seem worse than adding to the ever-growing list of mega-monuments.

In fact reining in executive overreach would be one way of achieving the “government efficiency” sought by the next administration. The eight years of national monument planning to protect the Bears Ears cultural landscape has been quite expensive and unproductive. Efficiency is a function of cost and productivity, and there’s important work to be done in land management, so we hope they can increase productivity as much as reducing cost. While executive overreach should be reined in, agencies should be empowered with hiring, firing, and other employment practices that are based on merit and performance to retain and promote the best employees for a long and productive career. These goals ought to be bipartisan, which would enable efficiency through legislation that’s more effective and enduring, but all three branches could help. For example, federal agencies could more efficiently implement environmental laws if Congress were more specific, and new judicial scrutiny of agency interpretations would help prod Congress to act. In any case, we applaud the goal of improving efficiency, and hope for a careful and comprehensive assessment.

Conclusion

The national-monument controversy has exposed regions like southeast Utah to all aspects of federal government. RwR will continue to engage in agency planning, challenging decisions when necessary, and working with agencies when possible along with other government and other stakeholders. We’ll continue to help implement plans and maintain trails, which keeps us grounded to the whole point of RwR, which is conserving diverse opportunities for outdoor fun in this diverse region. Many thanks for supporting these efforts and recreating responsibly.

Clif Koontz
Executive Director

Ride with Respect
www.ridewithrespect.org
395 McGill Avenue
Moab, Utah 84532
435-259-8334 land

 

Downloads / Attachments

Ride With Respect Year in Review 2024
2024-09-10 MTC letter re graded-road education
2024-11-08 RwR comm re e-bikes on MTB trails

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