March 6, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on litigation over the final San Rafael Swell Travel Management Plan – 3.6.25
Contacts:
Laura Peterson, Staff Attorney, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) (801) 236-3762; (laura@suwa.org)
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Salt Lake City, UT – Yesterday, the Idaho-based Blue Ribbon Coalition and others sued the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over the recently finalized San Rafael Swell Travel Management Plan. Below is a statement from SUWA Staff Attorney Laura Peterson and additional information.
“The motorized recreation groups filing this lawsuit are bound and determined to make Utah’s remarkable San Rafael Swell nothing more than a playground for off-road vehicles and side-by-sides; a place where it’s impossible to find peace and quiet. We’re not going to stand by and let that happen,” said Laura Peterson, SUWA Staff Attorney. “While BLM’s recently-completed San Rafael Swell travel plan got many things wrong, one thing it did right was not opening roughly 650 miles of so-called “routes” in the Swell to motorized vehicles. These 650 miles include trails that were created in the past fifteen or so years through illegal motorized use and are located in stream corridors and wash bottoms, run through cultural sites and lead to users causing real and serious environmental damage. Others are simply lines on a map that do not exist on the ground.”
Additional Information:
The San Rafael Swell Travel Management Area (TMA) encompasses roughly 1,150,000 acres of BLM-managed lands within the Price and Richfield field offices. A much-loved backcountry area, the Swell is home to irreplaceable cultural and historic resources, important wildlife habitat, and outstanding recreation opportunities. The Swell’s sinuous slot canyons, soaring red rock cliffs, and prominent buttes provide countless opportunities for hikers, canyoneers, campers, river runners, climbers, bikers, photographers, and other visitors. This TMA also encompasses recently-designated wilderness areas and the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area.
In June 2024, the BLM released a draft motorized vehicle travel management plan and accompanying environmental assessment, which analyzed the varying impacts of each alternative travel network under consideration. Of those alternatives, only Alternative B would have provided some balance between motorized recreation and non-motorized recreation while also minimizing damage to natural and cultural resources. Alternative B would have allowed motorized vehicles on nearly 1,200 miles of routes in the Swell, ensuring access to motorized and non-motorized recreation opportunities, scenic overlooks, and trailheads, while also preserving this stunning backcountry area.
In the final plan (released Dec. 31, 2024), the BLM selected Alternative E which designates nearly 1,500 miles of routes, opening a substantial number of new routes to motorized vehicles.
The San Rafael Swell Travel Management Plan is one of 11 travel plans the BLM is completing 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. Including this plan, the BLM has completed five of the 11 plans. Read more about SUWA’s litigation to ensure these travel plans follow federal laws to protect public lands and resources.
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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from 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 this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.
