[Northern Utah] Conservationists Appeal Ogden Ranger District Decision On ATV Trails

The Ogden Group of the Sierra Club, joined by three other  conservation organizations, filed an appeal on Friday of the Forest  Service's recent decision to open dozens of additional roads and  trails in the Ogden Ranger District to motorized travel.

The Forest Service decision was made public at the end of March.  If  implemented, this decision would make motorized recreation the  dominant use throughout approximately three-quarters of the Ogden  Ranger District, at the expense of wildlife habitat, watersheds,  quiet recreation, and other forest resources.  Many currently  nonmotorized trails would be opened to motorized travel, while  several new ATV trails would be constructed.

The conservationists' appeal is based on the failure of the Forest  Service to comply with several laws and regulations including the  National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and an Executive Order (EO  11644) on off-road vehicle management signed by President Nixon in 1972.

NEPA requires agencies to fully disclose the environmental impacts of  significant federal actions.  The Ogden Ranger District, however, has  failed to disclose many of the impacts of its decision.  For example,  its analysis assumes that starting on the day the decision is  implemented, all motorists will stay on legally designated routes-- even in remote areas where law enforcement is impractical and there  are no physical barriers to off-route travel.  Many of the affected  routes cross between Forest Service land and adjacent state-owned or  private lands, yet the Forest Service has not disclosed or analyzed  the impacts of its decision on these adjacent lands.  The Forest  Service's analysis of impacts on nonmotorized users is especially  superficial, based on inaccurate statistics that hide the reality of  where there are outstanding opportunities for quiet recreation.

Many of the routes affected by this decision are intended to connect  to the Shoshone Trail, a vast network of looping ATV routes that  promoters hope will soon stretch from Brigham City to Bear Lake.  The  Forest Service and other agencies designated "Phase 1" of the  Shoshone Trail in 2004, without public notice or NEPA analysis.  The  present decision would be a major step toward expanding this mega- trail system, whether or not the "Shoshone" name is ever applied to  the additional trails.  Further expansion is likely to occur in the  upcoming Logan Ranger District travel plan revision, and in efforts  by Box Elder and Cache counties to force private landowners to open  their lands to ATV travel.  However, federal regulations prohibit  subdividing a large project into several smaller pieces for the  purpose of NEPA analysis.  By failing to disclose or analyze the full  impact of this extended ATV trail system on wildlife and other  resources, the Forest Service is in violation of NEPA.

Executive Order 11644 requires that areas and trails open to off-road  vehicles on federal land be designated so as to minimize harassment  of wildlife, damage to soils and vegetation, and conflicts with other  uses of the land.  Yet the present decision would result in severe  and unnecessary impacts to these resources in several specific  locations--most notably Box Elder Creek, Public Grove, and the  Mollen's Hollow roadless area.  Among the wildlife species seriously  impacted are elk, sage grouse, sharp-tail grouse, and Canada lynx.   Unfortunately, the Forest Service made no attempt to minimize these  impacts as required.  Instead, the Forest Service merely says that it  has "considered" these impacts in its decision, and that impacts will  be lessened by better management after the decision is implemented.   The language of the Executive Order is clear in implying that mere  consideration of impacts is not adequate, nor is postponement of  attempts to minimize impacts until after routes are designated.

The Sierra Club and its allies believe it is possible to accommodate  much of the demand for motorized recreation opportunities without  serious harm to other forest resources.  Over a year ago,  conservation organizations suggested an alternative plan that would  accomplish this.  Unfortunately, the Forest Service rejected this  compromise and even added more new motorized trails to the plan  before announcing its decision.  Setting aside its mandate to promote  multiple uses, the Forest Service has acquiesced to the demands of a  single user group that represents less than five percent of all  Forest users.

Besides the Ogden Group of the Sierra Club, the appellants include three Salt Lake City-based organizations:  the Wild Utah Project;  Western Wildlife Conservancy; and the Citizens' Committee to Save Our Canyons.
For more information, including photos of affected routes and the  full text of the appeal, see . . .
http://utah.sierraclub.org/ogden/orv/TravelPlanAppealSummary.html.

Editor's note. The bottommost link above shows the disgusting destruction ATVs are having in the famed Wasatch Mountains of Northern Utah.