1 day Ago By Sorina Trauntvein
WASHINGTON (ABC4) -- A rule that would have prohibited off-road vehicles (ORVs) and street-legal all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) from driving on 24 miles of roads in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area has been blocked.In January, the National Park Service (NPS) introduced a new rule for ORVs and street-legal ATVs. It prohibited the use of select roads within the recreation area, including segments around the Poison Spring Loop area.
388 miles of park roads were still available for recreation with these vehicles.The U.S.
House of Representatives passed Rep. Celeste Maloy's Congressional Review Act resolution to block the NPS rule that intended to limit road usage. The resolution will now move to the Senate.
Learn about Utah’s dinosaurs: Free tours offered at quarry this summer“I introduced a resolution to nullify a senseless rule that limits recreation in a National Recreation Area, and I'm thrilled to see the House advance it. Ensuring that agencies are managing land for multiple uses, as directed by Congress, is a continuous battle that I will continue to fight so that people in Utah and across the country are free to continue exploring and enjoying the land that was set aside for them,” Rep. Maloy said in a statement.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) expressed concerns over the ecological integrity and visitor experience at Glen Canyon.“Rather than protect America’s crown jewels, the House has made it much more likely that treasured places such as the Orange Cliffs, Gunsight Butte, and Canyonlands National Park’s Maze District will be permanently impaired by noisy, destructive off-highway vehicles," Hanna Larsen, Staff Attorney for SUWA stated in a release from the organization.ST.
GEORGE: Utah’s second Dunkin’ Donuts opens, how you can win free coffee for a yearIn additional information about the rule from SUWA, they say that it "did not close any park roads to all motorized vehicle use; it affects 6% (25 miles) of dirt trails (park roads) – closing them to OHVs but leaving them open to full-size vehicles."“It..
. seems to be a solution in search of a problem, as there are already more than 250 miles throughout Glen Canyon National Recreation Area for off-road use," Erika Pollard, Campaign Director of the Southwest Region for the National Parks Conservation, is quoted in the release.Currently, the rule preventing ORVs and street-legal ATVs from accessing the roads is still in effect.
If this resolution passes the Senate, it will go into law and the roads will be reopened to those types of vehicles..
