February 21, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Court Hears Motorized Groups’ Efforts to Block BLM Travel Management Plan for Labyrinth Canyon/Gemini Bridges – 2.21.24
Contacts:
Stephen Bloch, Legal Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (steve@suwa.org)
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260 (grant@suwa.org)
Salt Lake City, UT – Today, a federal court heard arguments from motorized groups seeking an emergency injunction to block implementation of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) motorized vehicle Travel Management Plan for the greater Labyrinth Canyon area. Below is a statement from SUWA Legal Director Stephen Bloch and additional information.
“We are hopeful the Court will reject this effort to prevent BLM from implementing the Labyrinth Rims/Gemini Bridges travel management plan. BLM’s plan takes a balanced approach to managing recreation in this popular area; one that will protect the stunning Labyrinth Canyon river corridor and side canyons while leaving thousands of miles of dirt roads and trails open to motorized use. SUWA is confident that the plan will withstand additional scrutiny and we will continue to work to defend BLM’s decision.” – Stephen Bloch, SUWA Legal Director.
Additional information:
On September 28, BLM released the final Labyrinth Canyon and Gemini Bridges travel management plan. SUWA’ s press release, BLM Releases Plan that Finally Protects Labyrinth Canyon and Surrounding Public Lands : New travel plan will balance motorized and non-motorized recreation, contains additional background. The new plan will guide land management decisions on a 300,000-acre landscape for years to come – protecting cultural sites, riparian habitat, and the experience of non-motorized recreationists while allowing for motorized recreation on more than 800 miles of dirt trails and routes.
Following a failed appeal (Nov. 2023) by the BlueRibbon Coalition and others to the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) to stay implementation of the BLM Plan, motorized recreation groups challenged the plan in Federal District Court in Utah (Dec. 2023). During today’s hearing motorized groups (BlueRibbon Coalition, Patrick McKay, and Colorado Offroad Trail Defenders, represented primarily by America First Legal Foundation and Texas Public Policy Foundation) sought an emergency injunction, arguing against BLM’s approval of the Plan and seeking to stop its implementation. Attorneys from the United States Department of Justice and SUWA (who has intervened in the case) defended the Plan.
The Labyrinth Canyon travel plan is one of 11 travel plans the BLM is completing over the next few years as part of a court-supervised settlement agreement between the agency, conservation and ORV groups. Covering more than 6 million acres of BLM-managed lands in eastern and southern Utah, these plans will determine where motorized vehicles will be allowed on some of Utah’s wildest public lands. To date, the BLM has completed two of the 11 plans and is currently working on new plans for some of Utah’s most beloved landscapes, including the San Rafael Swell and the Henry Mountains. Read more about SUWA’s litigation to ensure these travel plans follow federal laws to protect public lands and resources.
