Off-road vehicle abuse in Utah national parks is claimed in a federal lawsuit seeking to toughen regulation of the vehicles in the National Park System.

The action was filed Tuesday by National Parks Conservation Association, Washington, D.C.; Friends of the Earth, Bluewater Network Division, San Francisco; and Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads, Missoula, Mont. Defendants are the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, according to Bluewater.

The suit was assigned to U.S. District Judge Judge Royce C. Lamberth, added a spokeswoman for Bluewater. It revolves around proposed rules by the Park Service that the groups believe would loosen control over ORVs. The Park Service already does a poor job policing the vehicles, according to the suit, and weakening its direction can't help.

Pressured by Bluewater, the suit says, the agency surveyed off-road vehicle use in the parks. The government gave plaintiffs some, but not all, of the survey results, it adds.

More than 70 National Park Service units reported the vehicles were causing adverse effects, while 10 more said they did not know whether that was happening. Park units in Utah reporting unauthorized use included Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef national parks, plus Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which also is in Arizona.

"At Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, it was reported that 'there was a number of locations where off-road travel has destroyed microbiotic soil crust, destroyed desert vegetation, crushed animal burrows or damaged slickrock,' " the suit says.

Any ORV use in the fragile desert environment has the potential to create substantial impacts that may last for years, added the parks. The damage includes both visual effects and harm to the plants and animals.

The parks reported that "operators are rarely caught due to staffing limitations," the suit adds.

National Park Service personnel defended their position, saying they visually monitor areas used by ORVs and, if significant damage is found, close the area, the suit says.

"In support, the NPS cited the closure of Salt Creek Road, in Canyonlands National Park," the suit says. But the agency closed the road, it says, "only after a federal court enjoined the NPS from continuing to permit ORV use in the area."

ORVs pose a significant safety hazard, it says, and that should not be ignored by the Park Service. "For example, an ORV fell over a cliff in New River Gorge National River, and another ORV user rode over a cliff in Canyonlands National Park."

In an earlier National Park Service management plan, the following clauses about ORVs were present, but they were deleted from the presently proposed rules, the groups say:

• "Routes and areas may be designated only in locations in which there will be no adverse impacts on the area's natural, cultural, scenic and esthetic values, and in consideration of other visitor use."

• " . . . (P)ark managers must immediately close a designated off-road vehicle route whenever the use is causing, or will cause, unacceptable adverse effects on the soil, vegetation, wildlife, wildlife habitat or cultural or historic resources."

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