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Dec. 16, 2000 By Gail Binkly
In defiance of the National Park Service, officials with San Juan County, Utah, have opened a dirt road in Canyonlands National Park that had been closed for 2 1/2 years. "As far as the county is concerned, the road is open," said Paul Henderson, chief of interpretation and visitor services with the Southeast Utah group, which includes Canyonlands, Arches, Hovenweep and Natural Bridges. "As far as the Park Service is concerned, it’s closed." The San Juan County commissioners see opening the road as another salvo in a battle to preserve multiple uses on public lands and protect rural counties against the power of the federal government.
Environmentalists, however, believe opening the road is a short-sighted act that will damage the fragile habitat of a scenic riparian area. On Dec. 7, according to several reports, San Juan County Sheriff Mike Lacy and a deputy took down closure signs that were standing in the road in upper Salt Creek Canyon at Peekaboo Campground. The Salt Creek road provides the only motorized access to Angel Arch, a large sandstone formation in the park’s Needles District. From where the road begins at Cave Spring to the site at Peekaboo Campground, it is open to vehicular travel, although a permit is required and a locked gate bars access near Cave Spring. But the 10-mile section of the road from the campground south to the arch has been closed by a district-court order since June 1998. The county’s act of opening the road appears to have been mainly symbolic, as the narrow four-wheel-drive route is clogged with ice and largely impassable at this time of year. County residents in a private vehicle who tried to drive down the road after it was opened didn’t make it more than 100 yards, the San Juan Record reported. "I wouldn’t go up there this time of year, even if the road were open and permits were available," Henderson said. "To get a tow truck to come pull you out — you’re looking at a thousand dollars." In addition, the park may cite persons who drive on the road, he said. "People need to understand they are breaking federal regulations," he said. COMPROMISE FAILS Until 1995, the upper Salt Creek Road had been open to unrestricted vehicular travel and saw as many as 100 vehicles a day, according to park officials. Then the park adopted a new backcountry management plan that limited use of the road to 10 private vehicles and two commercial vehicles a day under a permit system. Park officials had proposed closing the road completely to protect the riparian corridor, but local residents and off-road advocates protested vigorously. When the compromise was adopted, the non-profit Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance sued, saying the plan violated federal environmental laws. In June 1998, a district-court judge agreed, ruling that continued travel by motorized vehicles through upper Salt Creek Canyon would "permanently impair" its resources. The road was then closed. But off-road-vehicle groups appealed, and on Aug. 16 of this year, the 10th Circuit Court ruled that the district court had erred in the way it had made its decision, and sent the back to the lower court for review. The county commissioners decided the road should therefore be reopened and set a Dec. 1 deadline for the Park Service to do so. When it did not, and when the parties could not agree on an interim plan, the commissioners authorized Lacy to open the road. ‘BIOLOGICALLY RICH’ But the rocky, narrow byway should remain closed, according to Heidi McIntosh, SUWA’s conservation director and the attorney who litigated the case. "This is one of the most biologically rich areas in the park," she said. The creek is the only year-round water source in Canyonlands other than the Colorado and Green rivers, which flow through deep gorges. Before preparing its backcountry plan, the Park Service had collected "voluminous information" showing that vehicles were damaging the creek area, she said Thursday. The road winds along the creekbed and crosses the stream numerous times, and occasionally vehicles would spill oil, gasoline or other fluids into the water. Vehicles were eroding the creek bank, causing siltation of the water as well as the loss of vegetation and wildlife habitat, she said. "This isn’t a situation where they had some information that showed vehicle use was OK — it pointed in one direction alone," McIntosh said. ‘NOTHING UNNATURAL’ But San Juan County Commissioner Bill Redd disputed that conclusion. "Whatever falls on that road out of a car came out of the ground to begin with, so there’s nothing unnatural happening on that road," he said Friday. "For probably more years than I’ve been alive, people have been going up there," Redd said. "We have pictures of the foliage along that road going back to the ’50s. The foliage has not been destroyed — it’s grown and prospered." In fact, county officials contend that it’s the park that has done damage to their road, by not allowing it to be used for more than two years. The road existed prior to the park’s creation, Redd said, and belongs to the county and the state. "When the park was laid down, it was subject to valid existing rights," he said. "That Salt Creek Road went to a homestead and some mining activity, so it served two private purposes. "We don’t think that our road surfaces are subject to the wishes of some unelected environmental factions that want to control them." A POSTER CHILD? The county, which was not a party to the original lawsuit or its appeal, has sought intervenor status in the case. County officials are also planning to file a formal RS 2477 claim for the road, Henderson said. RS 2477 is a statute adopted in 1866 as part of the Lode Mining Act. The one-sentence statute states, "The right of way for the construction of highways across public lands not otherwise reserved for public purposes is hereby granted." Although RS 2477 was repealed in 1976, the repeal did not rescind old rights of way, and counties are still filing claims for those. "The county is trying to make this (Salt Creek) the poster child for RS 2477 all over the West," SUWA’s McIntosh said. "It’s an example of how counties and off-road-vehicle groups are abusing this statute, identifying any vehicle track they can see on the ground as a road, even though they have no idea how it got there." SUWA’s position is that the "highways" referred to in the old statute must have durable, permanent surfaces, she said. McIntosh said the fact that the road provides access to Angel Arch isn’t sufficient reason to keep it open. "There’s always something at the end of some Jeep trail, and it’s always going to be the only way to see that particular thing," she said. "I think the bottom line is that there need to be places that are pristine, where the environment is protected and you don’t encounter the noise, fumes and pollution motorized vehicles cause." Besides, she noted, "Arches National Park is right nearby and it has countless areas you can get to and see the most beautiful arches in the world." A GOOD RELATIONSHIP But Redd believes keeping roads such as Salt Creek open is an economic issue as well as a political one. "Counties should be in control of their own destinies," he said. "Rural counties make their living from the natural resources, and our job is to see that our people have the opportunity to do that and are not fettered by rules and regulations to where they cannot maximize that opportunity." Angel Arch is beautiful, and in order for tourists to see it, there must be a road, Redd said. "Our income-maximization necessitates that the people with the money, people between 50 and 90, be able to drive up there because they’re not going to walk. As soon as you put people walking, you’ve cut the income flow considerably." The parties involved are scheduled to meet in Salt Lake City later this month, Henderson said. In the meantime, the Park Service is consulting the U.S. Attorney’s Office on how to proceed. "What we do not want to do is try to pit our rangers on the ground against the sheriff from San Juan County," he said. "We have a pretty good working relationship and we do not want that to change."
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Copyright © 2000 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
