Greater Canyonlands is a stunning landscape encompassing 1.4 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed land surrounding Canyonlands National Park.  In March of this year, SUWA formally petitioned the Secretary of the Interior to ban off-road vehicle (ORV) use on 1,050 miles of ORV trails in sensitive habitats, including riparian areas and archaeological sites, in Greater Canyonlands.  SUWA’s petition requests that BLM prohibit ORV use on these 1,050 miles of identified routes pending further environmental analysis, while still allowing ORV use on 1,400 miles of routes within the area.

SUWA’s field staff have been keeping busy the last few months photo-documenting the controversial ORV trails that were designated by the BLM within Greater Canyonlands.  These routes – located in iconic areas such as Labyrinth Canyon, Indian Creek, White Canyon and Robber’s Roost – illustrate precisely why SUWA’s Greater Canyonlands petition is crucial to protecting the wilderness qualities of these awe-inspiring landscapes.  As the following photos illustrate, BLM clearly failed to do the on-the-ground assessments necessary to determine the necessity and associated environmental impacts of its vast network of ORV trails.

Please help us in urging the Obama administration to take action on the Greater Canyonlands petition by visiting www.greatercanyonlands.org.