CEDAR CITY -- The Bureau of Land Management is studying the feasibility of creating a motorized vehicle trail system from Beaver to the Arizona border, tentatively called the High Desert Trail.
A motorized trail system would help limit impact of recreational vehicles to the trails where use is monitored, said Dale Grange, Hurricane, vice president of newly formed High Desert Trail Inc., which is backing the plan."There are some areas that get used . . . and there are some areas that are used that shouldn't be," he said.
He said his organization is made up of 20 to 30 people, including recreational vehicle users, government agency representatives and members of wildlife and environmental groups.
Anne Stanworth of the BLM's Cedar City office said the agency hopes to connect existing roads and trails.
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance representative Liz Thomas fears a number of unauthorized user tracks account for some of those "so-called trails."
Cimarron Chacon, a landscape architect in the BLM's St. George Field Office, said the agency began gathering information a year ago.
The proposed system of trails will include some loops and spurs "that we think will be fairly challenging," Stanworth said.
Stanworth said she has been working with Beaver County officials to determine the feasibility of connecting to the Piute ATV Trail near Cove Fort.
The intention is to direct riders toward towns where they can get fuel, food and lodging.
Three Peaks Recreational Area, about 7 miles west of Enoch, might be used as a trailhead.
Smaller towns, such as Newcastle, 30 miles west of Cedar City, could be hooked in to provide basic services.
The trail might take riders to Burnt Canyon south of Enterprise Reservoir and down through the red hills surrounding St. George.
The exact path has yet to be determined pending an environmental assessment, public comment period and approval by BLM and Forest Service officials.
Thomas said her concern is in the definition of a trail.
"They're claiming that this trail is going to be on existing trails, but as far as I can tell BLM doesn't have any record of what constitutes a road or a trail," she said.
The role of the BLM in creating a trails system is also questioned by SUWA.
"BLM has had an obligation since the 1976 (Federal Lands Management Plan Act) to start monitoring use and damages to resource areas. They haven't done that so far," she said. "Sometimes resource management and protection takes a back seat to private recreation."
Chacon said the agency wants to help assure that people have a place to go outside of urban areas to unwind, ride their recreational vehicles and enjoy open space.
Stanworth said, "We can't operate in a vacuum by not considering these people who want a place to ride their recreational vehicles."