BLM Unveils Controversial Final Travel Plan for Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil, Raising Eyebrows Over Motorized Vehicle Dominance

January 17, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Laura Peterson, Staff Attorney, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) (801) 236-3762; (laura@suwa.org)
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org

Salt Lake City, UT – Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued the final Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil Travel Management Plan. Below is a statement from SUWA Staff Attorney Laura Peterson along with further details.

“It is disheartening that the BLM’s new travel strategy heavily favors motorized vehicles to the detriment of natural and cultural resources, designating 1,670 miles of dirt paths, including reopening over 100 miles of previously restricted routes, for off-road vehicles,” stated Laura Peterson, SUWA Staff Attorney, “Stretching from Capitol Reef National Park to Canyonlands National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the remote and breathtaking landscapes included in this planning area are central to Utah’s redrock country. BLM’s revised plan does not honor this remarkable location.”

Additional information: 

This plan encompasses approximately 1,450,000 acres of BLM-managed public lands primarily situated within the Richfield Field Office’s Henry Mountains Field Station. It comprises various unique and famous landscapes, including the Dirty Devil Canyon complex, the Henry Mountains, and the picturesque badlands surrounding Factory Butte.  

In September 2024, the BLM published a draft motorized vehicle travel management plan alongside an environmental assessment that analyzed the various impacts of each alternative travel network under consideration. Among these alternatives, only Alternative B would have struck a balance between motorized recreation and non-motorized recreation while also reducing harm to natural and cultural resources. Alternative B would have permitted motorized vehicles along over 1,300 miles of routes, guaranteeing access to both motorized and non-motorized recreational opportunities, scenic viewpoints, and trailheads, while securing this stunning backcountry area. 

The BLM chose a travel strategy that allocates 1,670 miles of motorized vehicle routes, opening 114 miles of routes previously off-limits to vehicles. This includes new routes in areas where BLM is responsible for safeguarding wilderness values.

The Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil Travel Management Plan is one of 11 travel strategies that the BLM aims to complete in the coming years as part of a 2017 court-supervised settlement agreement involving the agency, conservation groups, and ORV organizations. Encompassing over 6 million acres of BLM-managed lands in eastern and southern Utah, these plans will dictate where motorized vehicles can operate in some of Utah’s most pristine public lands. Up to now, the BLM has finalized four of the 11 plans, with others in progress. Discover more about SUWA’s legal actions to ensure these travel strategies abide by federal regulations that protect public lands and resources.

Conservation organizations contested the BLM’s 2008 Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil Travel Management Plan, resulting in a federal court ruling that the plan did not successfully mitigate harm from motorized vehicles and did not comply with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The litigation surrounding Henry Mountains/Dirty Devil ultimately resulted in the 2017 court-supervised settlement agreement.

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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit entity comprised of members and supporters from across the nation, committed to preserving America’s redrock wilderness. Operating from offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our professional team advocates for the redrock, rallies support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and conserves this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.