Just ask the Garfield County Trails Committee. For about five years now, members have gathered from all over the recreational and geographical map to clear, chart and promote trails in forests and redrock canyons in their extraordinary part of the world.

And it is in their combative meetings that rural Utah's recreational-culture wars continue to play out.

They pit people who enjoy the scenery from the back of an off-highway vehicle - a four-wheeler, motorbike or snowmobile - against those who relish their wilderness experiences on foot, horseback or pedaling a bicycle.

Since the stakes are high, with tourist opportunities and belief systems on the line for both sides, trail committee members find themselves in constant battle over how to make the best use of Garfield County's trails.

"If you talk to various groups, it has become a them-and-us thing," says Garfield County engineer Brian Bremner, who acknowledges the motorized crowd has gotten the lion's share of attention so far. "Now we need to look forward."

In recent months, the Garfield County Commission has set the stage to disarm trails committee critics by changing the committee's bylaws to "guidelines" earlier this year and including "disciplinary action" provisions to muzzle anyone deemed out of line more than once. The commission even threatened to disband the committee if meetings don't get more amicable.

The changes come a few months after a growing contingent of Boulder and Escalante residents got more involved in committee activities. The eastern Garfield County contingent fears that OHV advocates have, in effect, hijacked the trail-planning process and co-opted non-motorized users at virtually every turn.

The most visible sign: dubbing Garfield County "ATV & OHV Headquarters" in a brochure that glosses over non-motorized trails.

The most contentious: the committee's endorsement of an application for $43,500 in state trails money to turn an acre of the Escalante City Park into a staging ground specifically designed for OHVs. To the contrary, dozens of Escalante residents, businesses and visitors have attacked the idea as a threat to the community's peace, safety and economy, and opponents on the trails committee were blocked from even raising their objections to the endorsement.

"We have an obligation to resolve some of the conflicts in an even-handed and level-headed way that benefits all," says Melanie Boone-Reznick, an Escalante resident, backcountry outfitter and trails committee vice-chair.

Citing safety, community and tourism concerns, she and other Escalante business owners have petitioned the state parks office to reject the trailhead grant.

Trails committee Chairman Auggie Bernardo downplays the friction, noting that the May meeting ended on a positive note and "everything seems to be working fine now."

"You know how people are," says the OHV enthusiast. "You can't please everyone all the time."

Learning experience

Other Utah communities have been down this rough road. And they agree it is worth the infighting to hammer out trail plans that work for both the motorized and non-motorized communities.

Max Reid, a Fishlake National Forest recreation coordinator, estimates annual revenue of about $5 million to communities on the popular Paiute Trail for OHVs. Trail use is roughly equally divided between three types of OHV enthusiasts: locals, who spend about $11 a day; out-of-town Utahns, who spend about $36 a day; and out-of-staters, who spend about $110 daily into the local economy.

That means the trail infuses nearly as much into local cash registers as skiing does in northern Utah. And it makes grants and other investments in trails for motorized use a good investment, he says.

At the same time, Reid has been urging Garfield to be sure to make its trail system appealing to non-motorized users, too.

"Those people want a quiet experience, almost wilderness experience," he says. "It's a balance, and I'm not sure we ever find the balance."

Across the state in Grand County, Kimberly Schappert agrees.

As a one-time county council member, she created a group called "Trailmix" to expand the options around Moab for those besides the Jeep and ATV enthusiasts who had come to see the surrounding redrock as Utah's motorized recreation Mecca. Now, as director of the Moab Trails Alliance, she is coordinating a $10 million foot-and-bike trail effort that will connect downtown homes and hotels to nearby state and national parks.

"There's enough room in Grand County for everything," she insists. "You've got to take care of everybody."

Overlooking non-motorized users would be "downright wrong," she says.

Citing a report to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. last year, she points to Park City's great success with hiking and biking trails, which drew 55,600 users in 2006 who spent an estimated $145 per day. And the same report shows $1.1 million in revenue last year from two bike trails in Garfield County - the Red Canyon Bike Path along Highway 12 that drew 50 visitors a day from May to October and the Thunder Mountain Trail single track for bicycles that boasted 26 users per day.

"The user groups," says Schappert, "can learn something from one another."

But it will take a lot of hard-fought mutual respect and trust.

Consensus within reach?

People on both sides of the debate in Garfield County see the benefits of coming together on trails.

Bremner, the Garfield County engineer, says the trails committee has learned a few things from the Paiute Trail efforts and insists the Garfield County trails committee is not ATV-only, but "multi-modal."

"Right now we want to work on non-motorized trails, hiking trails," he says, noting the trails committee leadership will shift into Boone-Reznick's hands next year. It will be a good opportunity to accommodate the wishes of communities like Boulder that want to focus on horse, bike and foot trails.

"Our county is large enough, and there is enough resources out there," he says, "that everybody can have a wonderful, wonderful experience."

That's exactly what many people in the non-motorized contingent have been saying for a long time.

"It's one of those few last places of peace and quiet, and that's why people come here," says Lisa Varga, who owns and operates a gift shop and restaurant in Boulder. "There's plenty of places you can go" for motorized recreation, but the nearby mountains and canyons are uniquely suited to human-powered exploration. And that is critical for more than a dozen local businesses.

"We just want to see some balance," she says. "I think there's a way for everyone to be happy."

And so does Bremner.

"People have to get over mistrust of the other side," he concludes. "It's kind of a balancing act, and when someone tries to jump up and down to make things go their way, that won't work."

fahys@sltrib.com