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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The federal government will unlock gates to three roads in the Deep Creek Mountains in Utah's west desert in the first settlement over disputed claims of road ownership across federal lands.
The agreement allowing motorized traffic on three roads between June and November follows years of litigation in Utah, with disputes over wilderness roads spreading to other Western states.
Utah fought for access guaranteed by a Civil War-era law that allows states or localities to claim ownership over historic routes crossing public lands. The law, known as R.S. 2477, was repealed in 1976 with protection for existing roads, but they were never recorded, leading to protracted disputes about which dirt paths crossing the West qualify for local control.
Environmental groups challenged the state, contending Utah was trying to claim every faint track in the desert as a local right of way.
It shouldn't be lost on anyone that the state of Utah has 29 other active lawsuits claiming more than 14,000 other dirt roads and trails totaling more than 36,000 miles as RS 2477 'highways.'
–Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Under the settlement announced Monday by officials for Utah and Juab County and a number of environmental groups, the federal government agreed to reopen Granite Canyon, Toms Creek and Trout Creek roads in the Deep Creek Mountains.
Utah and Juab County took responsibility for removing downed trees to make the roads passable and agreed to help U.S. Bureau of Land Management rangers enforce other driving restrictions in the area.
The state and county agreed to drop some of their other claims to rights of way in the Deep Creek Mountains.
Utah Attorney General John Swallow said the outcome could help resolve other ownership disputes over dirt paths that cross federal lands.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance called the settlement a positive development.
"It shouldn't be lost on anyone that the state of Utah has 29 other active lawsuits claiming more than 14,000 other dirt roads and trails totaling more than 36,000 miles as RS 2477 'highways,'" said Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
He called some of the alleged roads "nothing more than cow paths or dry streambeds" crossing national parks and monuments in Utah's redrock country. Conservation groups have intervened to defend U.S. interests.
The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club also signed on to the consent decree filed by the U.S. Justice Department. It awaits approval by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell in Salt Lake City.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) 8/19/2013 5:28:53 PM (GMT -6:00)
