In a letter dated April 26, Sally Wisely, director of the BLM office in Salt Lake City, gave commissioners two weeks to remove the signs that designate the roads for off-road-vehicle (ORV) use. Some of the signs are posted adjacent to BLM signs designating wilderness study areas off-limits to ORVs.

The letter said the deadline for removal of the signs was Tuesday. But Don Banks, spokesman with the federal agency in Salt Lake City, said the deadline was moved to Monday of next week because the certified letter was not signed for until April 29.

So far, the BLM has not heard what the county plans to do.

“We hope they [commissioners] would respond in some manner,” said Banks. “Some indication in writing or some clear signal of what they want to do.”

Banks said that from what he has heard in conversations with state officials, the matter probably will go to court.

“What we've been hearing from the state and others is not encouraging,” he said.

Kane County Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw said the only way a decision can be made in the dispute is to bring to the table officials with the BLM and Department of Interior who have the authority to make the decision.

Habbeshaw said Wisely does not possess the power to decide the issue and the county is preparing to meet the agency in court.

He said the county has hired Salt Lake City attorney Shawn Welch to represent it.

“This needs a legal solution because a political one has not developed,” said Habbeshaw.

Until a resolution is reached, Habbeshaw is resolute on one thing:

“The signs stay up.”

mhavnes@sltrib.com