March 28, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on Rep. Celeste Maloy’s bill to turn the heart of redrock country into a off-road vehicle free-for-all – 3.28.25
Contacts:
Travis Hammill, DC Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (703) 725-8348; travis@suwa.org
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Washington, DC – Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT-02) has introduced another dead-on-arrival bill, H.R.2376, legislation that would nullify the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil Travel Management Plan, which was finalized in January 2025. Below is a statement from SUWA DC Director Travis Hammill and additional information.
“Despite her district containing some of the most remarkable public lands in the country, Rep. Maloy is dead-set on dismantling even the most basic protections for these places. While the 2025 Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil travel plan got many things wrong and still favors motorized recreation in far too many areas, Rep. Maloy’s bill would be worse – taking land management back to a 2008 plan that a Federal court ruled violated federal law,” said Travis Hammill, SUWA DC Director. “We’re not going to stand by and let this remote and stunning area at the heart of Utah’s redrock country be turned into a off-road vehicle free-for-all. SUWA’s members and our redrock champions in Congress will defeat this bill.”
Additional information:
The travel plan covers roughly 1,450,000 acres of BLM-managed public lands primarily within the Richfield Field Office’s Henry Mountains Field Station. It is made up of several distinct and renowned landscapes, including the Dirty Devil Canyon complex, the Henry Mountains, and the stunning badlands surrounding Factory Butte.
Conservation groups challenged BLM’s 2008 Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil Travel Management Plan and a federal court ruled that the plan failed to minimize damage from motorized vehicles and failed to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil litigation ultimately led to a 2017 court-supervised settlement agreement.
In September 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 more than 1,300 miles of routes, ensuring access to motorized and non-motorized recreation opportunities, scenic overlooks, and trailheads, while also preserving this stunning backcountry area.
The BLM ultimately settled on a travel plan that designates 1,670 miles of motorized vehicle routes, opening 114 miles of routes that were previously closed to vehicles. This includes new routes in areas that BLM is supposed to manage to protect wilderness values.
The Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil Travel Management Plan is one of 11 travel plans the BLM is completing over the next few years as part of a 2017 court-supervised settlement agreement between the agency, conservation organizations, 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 are allowed on some of Utah’s wildest public lands. To date, the BLM has completed four of the 11 plans, with others underway. 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.
