Carved into the heart of the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River over millions of years, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area features stunning redrock canyons, expansive stretches of undisturbed landscapes, and significant cultural and paleontological resources. Known mostly for water-based recreation on Lake Powell, Glen Canyon’s 1.25 million acres also boast superb opportunities for remote, land-based backcountry recreation.

Since Glen Canyon’s inception as a national recreation area in 1972, the National Park Service (NPS)—the federal agency charged with overseeing it—has largely turned a blind eye toward protecting the area from illegal off-road vehicle (ORV) use. That is, until 2021 when the NPS codified the decades of illegal use in a Trump-era plan that—for the first time—authorized all sorts of vehicles (think conventional vehicles, ATVs, dirt bikes, and side-by-sides) to drive on Lake Powell’s ever-increasing shorelines. The plan also gave motorized recreationists a green light to roar through parts of the spectacular Orange Cliffs area (which serves as a backdrop to Canyonlands National Park) and on a series of extremely remote routes feeding into Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments.

A Three-Way Failure

In March 2023, SUWA filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the ORV plan. We argued that the NPS failed to take the required hard look at the plan’s environmental impacts and failed to designate ORV areas and trails to minimize such impacts. As a result, we argued, those two failures rendered arbitrary and capricious the agency’s determination that the plan, once implemented, would not lead to impairment of Glen Canyon’s resources.

After nearly a year of negotiations, SUWA, along with the National Parks Conservation Association (who separately sued over the ORV Plan) entered into a settlement agreement with the NPS that requires the agency to promulgate a new rule proposing to (1) close the Orange Cliffs to ATVs and side-by-sides, (2) close designated shoreline access areas to motorized use unless lake elevations rise to sustainable levels, and (3) close various remote routes to ATVs and side-by-sides. We expect the NPS to release this proposed rule for public comment soon. Stay tuned for more information about submitting comments on the draft rule.

Unfortunately, shortly after we settled our lawsuit, the State of Utah, along with Wayne and Garfield Counties, filed their own lawsuit challenging the ORV plan. That suit does not challenge any aspect of SUWA’s litigation but instead seeks to undo the few road and trails closures in the Trump-era ORV plan and open the recreation area to even more ORV use, especially within the Orange Cliffs. If successful, the state’s lawsuit will threaten thousands of acres of wilderness-quality lands within the recreation area.

While the state’s case is still in its early stages, we’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, we’ll continue doing everything we can to defend Glen Canyon.

—Hanna Larsen

The above first appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of our Redrock Wilderness newsletter. Become a member to receive our print newsletter in your mailbox 3 times a year.