February 4, 2026 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUWA Statement on Historic Roadways Protection Act – 2.4.26 

Legislation would stop management of motorized vehicle use across more than 6 million acres of BLM-managed redrock country in Utah 

Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org

Washington, DC – Today, during a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Business Meeting, S.90 (the Historic Roadways Protection Act), passed on a party-line vote: 11-9. For all intents and purposes, this legislation would permanently prohibit the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from effectively managing motorized vehicle use across more than 6 million acres of BLM-managed lands in Utah, leaving these public lands vulnerable to destruction and degradation. Below is a statement from SUWA Staff Attorney Laura Peterson and additional information.  

“If Senator Lee had his way, millions of acres of southern Utah would be a motorized playground free-for-all,” said Laura Peterson, Staff Attorney at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). “The public lands impacted by this legislation include some of the wildest, most remote areas of redrock country, including narrow, winding canyons; soaring redrock cliffs; forested plateaus; and desert waterways. It puts big game habitat, areas rich in irreplaceable cultural sites, and iconic recreation destinations—places like Labyrinth Canyon, the San Rafael Swell, and the Dirty Devil—at risk of being damaged or destroyed.” 

Additional Information: 

Between 2011-12, the State of Utah and many of its counties filed more than two dozen Quiet Title Act lawsuits in federal district court for the District of Utah. The lawsuits claim title to more than 12,000 alleged rights-of-way totaling more than 35,000 miles across public lands managed by agencies overseen by the Interior Department: so-called “R.S. 2477 rights-of-way.”  

Utah and its counties are claiming title to R.S. 2477 rights-of-way within National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, National Monuments, National Recreation Areas, Congressionally-designated Wilderness, wilderness study areas, critical habitat, and fragile archeological sites. In addition to title, Utah is seeking the right to improve and widen each of these routes, in some cases up to 66 feet wide. An example of a RS2477 claim, from Kane County, is seen at the top of this page.

Roughly 80% of Utah’s claimed rights-of-way are made up of unimproved dirt roads and trails, including cow paths, stream bottoms and faded two-tracks; some of these routes do not even exist on the ground and are instead simply lines on a map. These are the vast majority of the “historic roadways” at issue in Senator Lee’s Historic Roadways Protection Act.  

The Act would prohibit the BLM from both implementing already completed motorized travel management plans and finalizing new plans until all of the state’s Quiet Title Act lawsuits are “adjudicated,” a process Senator Lee knows will take decades.  Since Utah filed its lawsuits in 2011-12, not a single case has been adjudicated by the district court.  

In the meantime, off-road vehicle use in Utah has skyrocketed. While these vehicles provide outdoor recreation opportunities, they also have an outsized impact on public land resources and other recreationists. It is critical that motorized vehicle use on public lands is managed and balanced. Travel management planning is essential to ensuring management that provides access to, and opportunities for, recreation while also preserving irreplaceable resources. Sen. Lee’s bill would prohibit the BLM from doing its job by preventing the agency from developing or implementing these crucial travel plans.  

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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards a world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.