But BLM needs to do the job right and observe public-interest laws that require that trail plans "minimize" both harm to the environment and conflicts with other public land users. Soil erosion and scarring, wildlife and native plant loss, wildfire threat, stream pollution and looting of archaeological sites have all been linked to off-road vehicle use.
Unfortunately, recent plans released by BLM for Moab, Kanab and other areas indicate that the agency is unethically shortcutting the environmental and public review processes by blindly adopting thousands of miles of trails simply on the say-so of ORV lobbyists and rural counties, who've demanded from BLM - successfully - a massive tangle of trails. BLM's current unwise approach promotes ORV excess, not access, and a single land use, off-roading, over multiple uses.
And it wasn't until after BLM's ORV plans took firm shape that the public was invited to comment on them - and given a scant 90 days to do so.
These ORV lobby "wish lists" are not the result of careful conservation study or any kind of needs analysis. They are largely old prospecting and mineral exploration routes that have been taken over by off-roaders.
BLM is designating these trails in new land-use plans that will govern public lands for 20 years or more. It is a massive and important undertaking. Within the next weeks and months, BLM will release new proposed and/or final plans for the entire eastern half of Utah - 11 million acres.
Recently, the 1.8 million-acre Moab area released its draft ORV plan with more than 5,000 miles of ORV trails and dirt roads. The Kanab Field Office released its draft plan recently, and it contains nearly 1,500 miles of ORV routes.
Richfield, Monticello, Price and Vernal will all have drafts or final plans in the coming months and weeks.
It is not a stretch to estimate that BLM's plans will include 10,000 or more miles of ORV trails and roads. Imagine driving across America three times on an ATV. That's the length of this newly designated, clearly excessive and unmanageable trail system.
Minimize conflicts and damage? BLM hasn't even surveyed the routes in these plans or analyzed the harm ORVs would have on archaeological sites, desert streams or just the beauty, peace and quiet that so many Americans seek in Utah's magnificent deserts.
It doesn't have to be this way. Other ORV plans have taken a much better approach. Right across the Green River from the Moab area, staff from the BLM's Price Field Office documented each route in their 2003 ORV plan on the ground. They drew fire from off-road lobbyists, but held firm. And they ended up with a plan that does a better job of providing access and protecting the land.
Moab, Kanab and the other areas in Utah include landscapes that are simply too beautiful, with natural values too precious, to simply turn over to destructive ORV use. The BLM should hold off on its new ORV plans until it can do the job right. This means taking the time to visit and evaluate the impacts of all the proposed routes they seem so eager to approve.
If nothing else, the BLM should give the public at least the same amount of time to comment on these plans as it gave the counties and ORV lobbyists to aggressively push them. Six months is not too much to ask for a public review that includes thousands of pages of maps and documents. The public deserves no less.
Rangers for Responsible Recreation, a diverse group of former and retired rangers and land managers, joined this summer with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility to address the No. 1 threat to public lands in the West: reckless use of off-road vehicles.
We urge BLM to extend the comment period, and work harder to reduce ORV-related conflicts and environmental damage.
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* DANIEL PATTERSON is an ecologist and director of Rangers for Responsible Recreation and the Southwest office of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. He formerly worked with BLM in the Mojave Desert. Contact him at swpeer@peer.org
