Elected officials have flouted federal authority by bulldozing roads in the Grand Staircase monument and Capitol Reef National Park, and by tearing down signs banning off-road vehicles in Canyonlands National Park. A handful of counties have developed transportation plans that declare roads open that federal land managers have closed.

Selma Sierra, Utah director of the federal Bureau of Land Management, insisted that the agency's relationship with counties is good. "The BLM manages a substantial amount of land in this state," Sierra said. "Yes, those lands belong to everyone in the country, but the decisions we make affect those individuals more so than anywhere else."

But federal officials say increases in motorized recreation and scarring of the landscape from energy exploration are threatening historic and cultural treasures and damaging wildlife habitat.

A recent BLM archaeological assessment of 3rd-century Anasazi ruins and cliff dwellings in Recapture Canyon found evidence of looting and off-road vehicle damage. According to the assessment, the new, county-built bridge "can be expected to hasten and increase indirect impacts to cultural resources here."

"It's quite common in Utah to hear people say, 'The federal government should give the land back to the state.' But the state never owned it," said Daniel McCool, director of the American West Center at the University of Utah.

McCool said rebellious county commissioners no longer represent the demographic of the American West. "There is a new rural resident," he said. "They didn't move here to ranch and raise cattle. They moved here for the amenities value of the public lands. That's what's driving the economy now. Today, the single largest nongovernmental components of Utah's economy are tourism and recreation."

According to an economic analysis commissioned by the National Parks Conservation Association, national parks generate at least $4 for state and local economies for every dollar in the parks' budgets. Zion National Park, in southwest Utah, had 2.5 million visitors last year and provided nearly $100 million in annual recreational benefits to the surrounding county, according to the study.

Grand Staircase was responsible for "substantial" economic growth, higher employment and increased personal income in two surrounding counties, according to a 2004 study by the Sonoran Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Tucson.

But Utah Lt. Gov. Gary R. Herbert said in an interview that the state had endured an "erosion of rights."

"We're not going to sit back anymore, we're going to be proactive, we are going to protect our rights," he said.