Judge upholds ORV limits on 190,000 Box Elder acres

A federal judge has ruled that the Bureau of Land Management was right to restrict off-road vehicle access on nearly 190,000 acres in Box Elder County.

The restrictions limit vehicle use to certain designated routes. ORV users say the rules close more than half the existing routes in the areas and prevent people from pulling off routes that are still open to set up camping sites, says a summary by the court.

Last week's ruling by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Bruce S. Jenkins came in a suit filed by Utah Shared Access Alliance, an advocacy group for all-terrain vehicles users. BLM was the defendant, and four environmental groups intervened on the agency's side.

Jenkins dismissed the suit, ruling that the BLM had documented "evidence of various real and potential adverse effects" by ORVs in the Pilot Mountains, Grouses Creek Mountains, Devils Playground, Hogup Mountains and Wildcat Hills. He added that the record shows ORVs there have caused or will cause:

• Harm to livestock grazing, through the cutting of fences, opening of gates and harassment of livestock;

• Increased risk of soil erosion, destruction of vegetation, which could open areas to noxious weed invasion;

• Trail proliferation that removes vegetation and increases soil erosion;

• "Considerable adverse effects on wildlife";

• Diminished visual appeal of the desert landscape.

Paul W. Mortensen, representing the ORV group, said the organization has not decided whether to appeal Jenkins' ruling. The background to the suit, he said, is that in 2000, the BLM ordered an emergency closure of over 450,000 acres in Box Elder County. Utah Shared Access Alliance took legal action, saying the closure was inconsistent with the BLM's resource management plan.

Just as the access group was to file its brief in a lawsuit against the closure, the BLM withdrew that order and instated the new restrictions. According to the Federal Register, land covered by the later order amounts to 189,265 acres.

"In one sense, we have achieved getting 261,000 acres (the difference between the original closure and the final one) freed up from what was done," Mortensen said. "We can't just yell defeat there."

The new order closed 200 miles of roads, he said. The group thought that was unreasonable, he added.