Utah's U.S. Senators Want To Open National Parks To OHVs

Utah's two United States senators have authored legislation that would open up Capitol Reef National Park, and possibly other units of the National Park System, to off-road vehicle travel.

The legislation introduced by Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis, both Republicans, calls for increased access to "ensure that Americans with disabilities can access and enjoy the nation’s public lands."

One measure is specific to Capitol Reef, applying to the Burr Trail Road, Cathedral Road, Hartnet Road, Highway 24, Notom Bullfrog Road, Polk Creek Road, Oil Well Bench Road, Baker Ranch Road, South Desert Overlook Road, Temple of the Sun and Moon Road, Gypsum Sinkhole Road, and Sulphur Creek Road. The other is more general, applying to "the use of roads" in any park system unit. It would allow states to define what an OHV is and would allow their travel on routes open to other motor vehicles.

"The mountains, canyons, and forests managed by the federal government are part of our shared heritage, and access to them should not depend on whether someone can hike ten miles or climb a ridge," said Lee while announcing the bill last week. "This bill ensures that Americans with disabilities have the same chance to experience the beauty of our country as everyone else.”

Curtis cast some shade on the National Park Service's ability to properly manage national parks in Utah, saying that “[F]or generations, Utahns have cared for these lands and know them better than any federal agency in Washington. Access, especially for those with disabilities, shouldn’t come with unnecessary barriers. This bill is common sense: trusting local communities, honoring our public lands, and making sure more Americans can experience the beauty and freedom that define the West.”

Opposing the measure were the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), and the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks.

“Off-road vehicles have dramatic and damaging impacts on the landscape and the experience of others who recreate outside. They are faster and louder than full-size vehicles and are designed to travel off-road and into rugged backcountry terrain,” said Laura Peterson, staff attorney at SUWA. “In Utah and beyond, there are tens of thousands of miles of routes already open to off-road vehicles on surrounding public lands. National Parks are simply too special to be sacrificed to the noise and damage from off-road vehicles.”

Sue Fritzke, a former Capitol Reef superintendent and now on the executive council of the Coalition, said opening the park and other park system units to "OHVs would denigrate the very resources those sites have been set aside to protect, with increased dust and noise and impacts on wildlife, endangered species, and visitors; it would also be expensive, time-consuming, and detrimental to the visitor experience. Substantial opportunities for OHV use, both on and off road exist on Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and the many other public lands in Utah not managed by the National Park Service. The use of OHVs is not appropriate or require a national park setting, and these bills are simply an attempt to homogenize the recreational opportunities of millions of visitors. Having some places that are free of OHVs allows for a broad array of opportunities on public lands.”

NPCA officials were worried about the intrusion and possible damage OHVs would inflict on areas they're now banned from.

"These bills strip the National Park Service’s ability to fully manage park roads by opening them to off-road vehicles that bring noise and damage to fragile landscapes. In Capitol Reef, the red rock cliffs and dark night skies offer a rare kind of solitude that defines the national park experience here in Southern Utah,” said Cory MacNulty, campaign director, Southwest Region at NPCA. ”Adding off-road vehicles to both the busiest paved roads and the most remote backcountry routes would ruin that sense of quiet. There’s no reason to overrun one of Utah’s most awe-inspiring parks, especially with so many opportunities already open to ORVs on surrounding public lands. Capitol Reef is just the tip of the iceberg if this is what is to come for national parks across the country.”

Lee has tried two other times this year to open up, or even sell off, federal lands. Early this year he tried, but failed, to amend President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Fill to allow for the auction millions of acres of federal lands to pay for Trump's budget proposal. The senator later returned with another measure that would restrict land sales to Bureau of Land Management areas in the West, require that they're specific to housing projects or associated infrastructure, and require the acres put up for auction to be within five miles of a population center. Previously he had included national forest lands.

Earlier this month Lee and some of his Senate colleagues introduced legislation they say will better protect borderlands while providing more access to them.

The proposed Border Lands Conservation Act would:

• Authorize border access roads on federal lands, coordinated with Customs and Border Protection and local partners, to enable agents and first responders to quickly reach problem areas.
• Establish a standing Border Fuels Initiative to reduce hazardous fuels and mitigate illegal-camp wildfire threats.
• Streamline authorities so CBP can conduct security measures in areas with overlapping without needless delay. 
• Clarify that conservation lands cannot be used as migrant encampments, preserving resources for visitor access and habitat management. 

If the proposed legislation as written becomes law, Homeland Security agents would be allowed to access structures, installations, and roads; execute search and rescue operations; use motor vehicles, motorboats, and motorized equipment; and conduct patrols on foot and on horseback in official wilderness.