Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018
My first encounter with the San Rafael Swell as a teenager in the mid-1970s was uneventful. The subsequent 45 years that followed have been spent modifying that original opinion. What an amazing place.
I had family who spent time in the Swell working in the uranium mines in the 1950s. My aunt one day voiced her opinion of the area during the summer; “hot, dry, windy and dusty.” She and my uncle lived at Temple Mountain City, which today is not even a ghost town.
Shifting ahead twenty-five years from the time my uncle lived there, I began riding a motorcycle in the area, utilizing the network of old mining roads and trails to explore the Swell. It was amazing where these routes took me and was sometimes truly astounding what was left along the way. I would come home wanting to know more about my discoveries that day. The experience was partly in the discovery and partly in the challenge of the ride.
In 2003, several-hundred miles of these routes were closed to motorized travel. Some were perhaps due to the demands of an increasing number of visitors, others due to pressure from environmental groups, and others from the qualms of land mangers whether well- or ill-intended. Some great places can no longer be enjoyed by off-highway vehicle. I’m okay with many of the changes, but others seemed unwarranted.
In the recent years, there has been an increased tug-of-war over how to manage the Swell with diverse opinions of how that should be done. Some are asking to close the vast majority of unimproved roads and trails plus doubling the amount of wilderness that the BLM originally recommend, while others want no wilderness designation anywhere. In the past couple decades, I’ve probably spent a thousand hours (and OHV clubs have spent several-thousand) volunteering through the BLM and Emery County to help maintain responsible motorized access to the Swell. We have had some great successes.
There is a lands bill in Washington being debated, and the forces have aligned themselves to battle over management of the San Rafael Swell. The Utah delegation supports the bill because they say that it originated in Emery County. Emery County has been diligently working on a bill in its different forms for over twenty years. The original intent of the bill was to bring more local influence to the federal lands in the county, stave off the restrictions of a potential monument designation, and produce long-range management goals including continued traditional methods of access. In my opinion, because of pressure from environmental groups in the last couple of years, the bill has morphed into something that I and others can’t accept. The current bill expands restrictive designation to many more acres while whittling down the assurances for responsible recreation. For example, it would designate an additional 141,000 acres of land as wilderness, while leaving the door open for possible closure of long-used motorized routes.
I encourage motorized users of this area to become or stay informed about the issues, express your concerns with Emery County Officials and others and become involved with local groups like the Castle Country OHV Association and Sage Riders Motorcycle Club. I believe that, with a few specific changes to the legislation, the bill would be more inclusive to all stakeholders and something I could very much support.
Scott Wheeler
Price, Utah
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