Federal and state land managers on Tuesday signed an agreement that they hope will allow them to test drive how they will manage off-highway vehicle use on Utah's public lands.
But wilderness advocates see ruts in the road.
"From our perspective it's a meaningless exercise," said Steve Bloch, attorney for Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). "It's a lot of hand-holding and just more promises of years of listening sessions without any on-the-ground protection," he added.
The "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) between the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the state of Utah is a five-year process to come up with a plan to better manage off-highway vehicle (OHV) use.
A multiagency technical team would meet at least once a year with a mandate to improve communication between the agencies. By fall, the team would come up with a consistent approach for managing OHV use, and over the next year the team would develop a uniform signing and mapping protocol for use by all agencies.
The agreement also calls for a process whereby agencies, with user group input, allocate money and staffing for OHV trail development, maintenance, rehabilitation and policing.
In Utah, about 70 percent of all lands are managed by the federal government and the state. Because OHV use has increased so much in recent years, officials say a cooperative approach to the problem is the only practical solution.
"No one agency can manage it alone," said Jack Blackwell, regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service.
The MOU is in response to growing criticism from environmental groups that say OHV use is damaging the state's pristine wilderness qualities — something that violates federal law, they say. Land managers are admitting there has been damage.
"Sorry to say there is a small percentage who do not want to comply with the rules," said Sherman Hoskins, deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources, also acknowledging there are OHV users who respect the environment.
At a Tuesday press conference announcing the cooperative agreement, wilderness advocates asked land managers how they could continue to allow degradation of wild areas when the evidence of the damage is so overwhelming.
"We'll take action when we see we need to," responded state BLM Director Sally Wisely.
BLM spokesman Glenn Foreman says the agreement will provide a consistent approach to OHV use.
"The MOU is a starting point of a cooperative effort between the agencies," said Foreman. "It has built within it the public involvement we need to move forward. It may appear to be a slow process, but it needs to be done right."
According to the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation, the number of off-road vehicles has increased to almost 70,000 —three times more than what is was 10 years ago. That 70,000 doesn't take into account the 279,000 four-wheel drive trucks, jeeps and sport utility vehicles. But the MOU addresses OHV recreation, which would include all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and some four-wheel drive vehicles.
The agreement is to provide continued OHV use of federal and state lands, as well as ensuring protection of natural resources, the MOU states. Off-road vehicle users praised the agreement.
"It's a good thing," said Brian Hawthorne, director of Utah Shared Access Alliance. "It does common sense stuff."
But SUWA argues it does nothing. It wants the BLM to enforce its existing laws and close roads inside all wilderness study areas. SUWA has filed a lawsuit to do just that.
"All state and federal public lands should simply not be available for unrestricted cross-country off-road vehicle use," said Bloch. "It's common sense land management."
BLM, however, isn't about to close down all roads.
"We aren't going to engage in a knee-jerk reaction," said Foreman. "We have demonstrated that we are sensitive to those areas that are receiving impact," he added.
He points out the recent closures of six roads inside the San Rafael Swell wilderness study area. "These are public lands. When we can mitigate (the damage) we will," Foreman said.
That's not enough, says SUWA.
"Even with BLM's recent "baby-step" closures in the San Rafael Swell, statewide more than 90 percent of BLM land remains open for unrestricted OHV use," Bloch said. Moquith Mountain wilderness study area, for instance, has been devastated by constant OHV abuse, he added.
And SUWA blasts BLM for violating its laws designed to protect wilderness qualities in the Sids Mountain area by not closing the trails despite documented evidence by its own staff.
"It's just more of the same," Bloch said of the MOU. For years, BLM has ignored the damage, he added.
"BLM must enforce existing laws and regulations pertaining to off-road vehicle use lands the agency manages," Bloch said.
Hawthorne said the agencies are doing the right thing.
"The agencies have a responsibility to balance resource protection and use," he said. SUWA thinks the remedy is to kick off-road users completely out of the 9.1 million acre wilderness proponents want protected, he added.
"It's wrong," Hawthorne said.