ORV Management Plan For Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Draws NPCA Criticism

National Park Service officials have settled on an off-road management plan for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area that, if approved, would carry adverse impacts for soils, vegetation, and paleontological and archaeological resources and lead to increased safety issues for visitors.

The plan was quickly condemned by the National Parks Conservation Association, which said it was "alarming that the National Park Service would move forward with a new management plan that poses broad and significant environmental impacts" on the NRA, which covers more than 1.2 million acres in southern Utah and northern Arizona.

“The proposed final plan opens up more than 300 miles of paved and unpaved vehicle routes within Glen Canyon to off-road vehicles, including street legal ATVs," said Erika Pollard, the park advocacy group's senior Utah program manager. "It’s even more alarming that the Park Service would implement this plan given their acknowledgement of the direct and adverse impacts increased vehicle access would have throughout the park site.”

The plan, nine years in the making, is laid out in a final Environmental Impact Statement that runs more than 700 pages. In the executive summary, Park Service officials said that under the preferred alternative "resources would be protected and the visitor experience enhanced by identifying and designating specific areas capable of supporting off-road use, while prohibiting such uses in areas where resources and values may be at risk."

Glen Canyon Superintendent Billy Shott said the plan was developed in cooperation with the southern Utah counties of Garfield, Kane, San Juan, and Wayne.

“I’m very pleased with the response we’ve had to developing the Off-road Vehicle Management Plan,” Shott said in a release. “We gathered input and comments from the general public at numerous venues, received input from the Bureau of Land Management, and had input from the Utah counties that border our park. I think the plan we’ve prepared together is very representative of the balanced approach we need to manage off-road use in Glen Canyon.”

According to the park's release, the preferred alternative "maintains many of the off and on-road recreational opportunities that are currently available at Glen Canyon, though some routes and areas not designated under the plan will be closed and restored. It also includes provisions to develop a comprehensive communication plan that will improve signage and route markings, inform visitors about park regulations concerning off-road vehicle use, and educate visitors on the unique resources in the park and ways they can help protect them. A permit system will be implemented to facilitate communication with visitors, and recover costs associated with monitoring routes, providing visitor safety, and mitigating damages to natural and cultural resources."

According to the EIS document, the preferred alternative, if approved, would:

• Allow "conventional motor vehicles and street-legal ATVs would be authorized for use at 16 areas only by permit, subject to water-level closures and seasonal restrictions."
• Create a "vehicle-free area ... at Lone Rock Beach and two accessible shorelines (Bullfrog North and South and Stanton Creek)."
• Open 14 "areas (12 existing areas plus Nokai Canyon and Paiute Farms) ... for use by conventional motor vehicles and street-legal ATVs, only by permit, subject to waterlevel closures. Eight areas (Blue Notch, Bullfrog North and South, Crosby Canyon, Dirty Devil, Farley Canyon, Red Canyon, Stanton Creek and White Canyon) would be closed to street-legal ATV use from November 1 through March 1.
• End off-road use at Warm Creek.
• Designate "vehicle-free zones (no vehicles of any type would be allowed in this zone) at Bullfrog North and South and Stanton Creek during seasons of highest use and would vary the size and location of these zones in relation to the lake level."
• "No OHVs or streetlegal ATVs would be authorized for use in the Orange Cliffs Unit, except on approximately eight miles of roads (Route 633 proceeding north to Route 730 and proceeding west to the park boundary) which are part of the Poison Spring Loop."
• Cause "(D)irect, adverse impacts from crushing, shearing, compaction, and erosion on 250 acres of soil at Lone Rock Beach; 180 acres at Lone Rock Beach Play Area, and approximately 6,175 acres at 14 accessible shorelines; and along approximately 21 miles of ORV routes.
• Have "(B)eneficial impacts on soils at Warm Creek from discontinuation of off-road use with other beneficial impacts on eight shorelines from seasonal closures and a vehicle free zone at Bullfrog North and South and at Stanton Creek."
• Lead to approximately 888 acres of low to moderately erodible soils (being) directly disturbed at accessible shoreline areas and approximately 44 acres along designated ORV routes.
• Have a direct impact on approximately 3,808 acres of vegetation at 14 accessible shorelines.
• Have direct, adverse impacts on wildlife and wildlife habitat at Lone Rock Beach, Lone Rock Beach Play Area, and approximately 6,175 acres at 14 accessible shorelines as a result of disturbance, displacement, vehicle-wildlife collisions, noise, and habitat destruction. Beneficial impacts on wildlife and wildlife habitat at Warm Creek as a result of discontinuation of off-road use with other beneficial impacts on eight shorelines from seasonal closures and a vehicle free zone at Bullfrog North and South and at Stanton Creek.
• Have adverse impacts on special-status species at Lone Rock Beach, Lone Rock Beach Play Area, and 14 accessible shorelines as a result of habitat destruction, vehicle-wildlife collisions, and species disturbance and displacement.
• Have direct impacts as a result of noise generated from conventional motor vehicles, OHVs, and street-legal ATVs total 272,797 acres of land (21.8% of the Glen Canyon land area). These areas could potentially experience a 3-dBA increase in natural ambient sound level due to motorized vehicle operations.
• Lead to increased beneficial impacts for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a result of continued and increased access (by conventional motor vehicles, OHVs, and street-legal ATVs on Hole-in-the-Rock Road) to the Hole-in-the Rock.
• Have adverse impacts on paleontological resources stemming from erosion as a result of motor vehicle use on 250 acres Lone Rock Beach, 180 acres at Lone Rock Beach Play Area, approximately 6,175 acres at 14 accessible shorelines, and along approximately 21 miles of ORV routes.

• Have adverse impacts on health and safety as conventional motor vehicles, OHVs and streetlegal ATVs would be allowed to operate together at Lone Rock Beach, Lone Rock Beach Play Area, at 15 accessible shorelines, along GMP roads, and along designated ORV routes.

• With the 96-dBA limit, 8.9% of proposed wilderness areas would be directly affected by motor vehicle noise.

NPCA officials said that throughout the nearly nine years it has taken to develop this management plan they have urged the Park Service "to prohibit off-road vehicle use on designated park roads to maintain the remote, wilderness quality of the Glen Canyon backcountry, protect the park’s important cultural and natural resources and ensure visitor safety."

The advocacy group also questions whether the Park Service used "up-to-date information and appropriate analysis of air quality and noise impacts of increased ORV use in the recreation area when making this important decision."

In addition to its potential impacts to Glen Canyon, NPCA warned of harm to the adjacent Canyonlands National Park.

“I’m disturbed that a portion of the Orange Cliffs, which is a remote and special backcountry area of Glen Canyon, will be opened to ORV and ATV use with very little ability to enforce illegal use,” said David Nimkin, senior regional director for NPCA's Southwest region. “With more than 30,000 miles of designated ORV routes already existing on Bureau of Land Management land throughout Utah, this decision by the National Park Service to allow ORV use in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is simply unreasonable and unnecessary.”

After a waiting period of at least 30 days, the National Park Service will issue a Record of Decision documenting the alternative that has been selected. The chosen alternative will then be adopted as a special regulation governing off-road use of motor vehicles, as well as on-road use of off-highway and all-terrain vehicles at Glen Canyon.