Blanding * Fed up with federal control over lands their families have used for generations, dozens of Blanding residents along with out-of-town supporters Saturday drove ATVs into Recapture Canyon, a nearby trove of prehistoric sites the Bureau of Land Management closed to motorized use seven years ago.
San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman, acting as a private citizen, organized the event, which started with a rally in Blanding's Centennial Park, to protest what he and more than 200 supporters call federal 'overreach' into local jurisdiction. Prompting the protest was BLM's failure to process San Juan County's applications for ATV rights-of-way in Recapture, although resentment with the federal agency here runs much deeper and wider than the canyon that parallels Blanding a few miles to the east.
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Public lands debate
BLM officials said they were disappointed protesters broke the law Saturday, adding that federal officers were present in the canyon recording riders and gathering evidence.
'We're not proponents of breaking the law,' Lyman told reporters, an hour before joining dozens of riders on a closed route in defiance of federal law. 'This was a supervisor's discretionary closure. It's a county road. We claim it. If they can do that, what can they not do? Just because BLM owns the property, that doesn't mean they own the right-of-way that exists.'
But riding the canyon is unlawful and conservationists expressed dismay that an elected leader would put himself above the law at the expense of the canyon's irreplaceable cultural values.
Under the watch of several horse-mounted sheriff's deputies, some 50 ATVs carrying multiple riders, including children without helmets and militia members with weapons at the ready, motored across an invisible line in the dust where the canyon was off limits.
'We are here to keep the peace and safeguard the constitutional rights of everybody,' said San Juan County Sheriff Rick Eldredge. 'We don't want to see clashes between citizens and clashes between BLM and militia. This is not going to be Bunkerville.'
The sheriff was referring to BLM's recent stand-off with armed supporters of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who has long refused to pay grazing fees. Bundy's son, Ryan, joined the protest ride into Recapture Canyon.
Part of a broad backlash against federal land management across the West, the ATV protest has attracted out-of-state activists eager to denounce federal authority over public lands. Some came decked in military camouflage and sidearms slung on their thighs. Militia men approached by The Tribune declined to be interviewed.
BLM had no visible presence at the north end of the canyon where riders entered on an established road below Recapture Reservoir, but they were there, according to BLM Utah director Juan Palma. He expressed concern that riders may have damaged artifacts and dwellings left by Ancestral Puebloans, who lived in the canyon until 800 years ago.
'As always, our first and most important priority is the safety of the public and our employees, and our actions today reflect that,' Palma said in a statement. 'The BLM was in Recapture Canyon today collecting evidence and will continue to investigate. The BLM will pursue all available redress through the legal system to hold the lawbreakers accountable.'
Citing safety concerns, many environmentalists stayed out of Blanding on Saturday. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Great Old Broads for Wilderness have long advocated to keep Recapture motor-free, but their members did not stage a counter-protest.
Josh Ewing, executive director of the nonprofit conservation group Friends of Cedar Mesa, was in the canyon photographing many riders as they passed below a cliff dwelling about a mile into the closed part of the canyon. Most of the riders, including Lyman, turned around here, while a few continued south. From there, the route was less a road than a meandering trail overgrown with sage and willow.
'The American tradition of civil disobedience doesn't change the fact that the rule of law needs to mean something,' said Ewing, who lives in nearby Bluff. 'I'll be very disappointed in my government if it doesn't follow through with upholding the law.'Palma noted in his statement Saturday that 'there are more than 2,800 miles of trails open to ATV use on public lands adjacent to or within a short drive of Blanding.'
bmaffly@sltrib.com
Posted by Unknown on Saturday, May 10, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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