Utah trails aren't roads

That's when SUWA and the Sierra Club sued San Juan, Garfield and Kane counties for illegally blading roads in areas under review for wilderness protection. The lawsuit specifically included 16 routes, located in Hart's Point, east of Canyonlands National Park, in the Moquith Mountain Wilderness Study Area and in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The counties said they had a right to those roads under terms of a provision of the Mining Act of 1866, known as RS2477. Even though the law was repealed in 1976, any road in place prior to that time would still qualify as a local right-of-way under the old law.

Campbell, however, ruled in favor of environmentalists, saying the routes, which had largely been created by haphazard, random use, were not valid RS2477 claims.

The counties, represented by the Utah Attorney General's Office, appealed. The attorney handling the case was not available for comment on the appellate court's ruling.

The court effectively let Campbell's decision stand by dismissing the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because Campbell did not rule on other mentions left pending in the case — the environmental groups' request for injunctive relief and the federal government's claim for damages for trespass by the counties.

Environmentalists applaud the 10th Circuit's decision.

"Even though this outmoded law was repealed by Congress in 1976, anti-wilderness politicians and the Bush administration have tried to use it to thwart the will of most Americans who want to protect what's left of wild America," said Lawson LeGate, southwest regional director of the Sierra Club. "All of us can be grateful that the circuit court will not permit this perversion of the law."

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