State wants say in road lawsuit

The state of Utah wants to join San Juan County in a lawsuit against the federal government to get ownership of a road that runs into Canyonlands National Park.

Utah's motion to intervene in the lawsuit for Salt Creek Road was filed Thursday and comes after the state informed the Bush administration it planned to sue to reopen 7.5 miles of the road to vehicle traffic.

The state essentially wants to co-own the road with San Juan County, said Assistant Utah Attorney General Ralph Finlayson.

"Under the county's and the state's theory, these tracks would be virtually immune from regulation by the National Park Service and other federal land managers and could not be closed no matter how much they are damaging the public lands," said Heidi McIntosh, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Salt Creek Road is an unpaved, ungraded trail that criss-crosses Salt Creek. The road leads to Angel Arch, a popular destination for park visitors.

A federal judge ordered Salt Creek closed to traffic in 1998 in a ruling in a lawsuit brought by Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which pointed to damage caused by vehicles. But the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2000 ordered the court to re-examine the record.

The Park Service closed the road last June because of damage.