Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Garfield County is putting down chip and seal on a 7.5 mile section of the Burr Trail east of Capital Reef National Park it says will make traveling safer for tourists and residents who will no longer have to worry about the road getting washed out.
Multiple groups, however, filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday challenging the U.S. Department of Interior over its approval of the chip and seal project on the last section of the 66-mile roadway because they say it was rubber stamped in a top down decision from Washington, D.C.
“The decision was rushed through to allow work to commence before the ink was dry and with no apparent consideration of public comments,” said Phil Hanceford, conservation director at the Wilderness Society’s Bureau of Land Management Action Center. “This is a disturbing way to conduct business on public lands that are owned by all Americans, especially when the BLM knew of the longstanding and contentious nature of this proposed action.”
The route between Boulder and Bullfrog takes the public through one of the most spectacular landscapes in Utah, but Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock said people will drive for miles in touring cars only to come to that section of the road that becomes impassable during wet weather.
"You can imagine you are from New Zealand or New York and it is raining and it looks like you are on a paved road and you come across this little piece out in the middle of nowhere and it has no pavement," he said. "You either get stuck or you have to turn around and go all the way around."
Garfield County first sought to make the improvements to that section of the road years ago but backed off after objections were raised by the National Park Service at the time and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
About a year ago, county officials approached the BLM again, Garfield County Engineer Brian Bremner said.
This is a disturbing way to conduct business on public lands that are owned by all Americans, especially when the BLM knew of the longstanding and contentious nature of this proposed action.
"All of this work is within an existing disturbed area and all of the work is within the roadway, which is a technical engineering term which is an area of the road where cars travel. It is not ditches, it is not wetlands. It is a four-day project."
But Stephen Bloch, legal director with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said the project is part of a larger scheme to open up Utah wild lands to development by taking advantage of rights of way, many of which are hotly disputed in protracted legal battles.
“The chip-sealing of the Burr Trail near Capitol Reef National Park by Garfield County is proof that the state of Utah’s 20-plus RS 2477 lawsuits, seeking title to rights of way over tens of thousands of miles of routes across federal public land in Utah, is driven by the desire to open up Utah wild lands to development,” Bloch said.
The project received approval after an abbreviated comment period via new guidelines issued under the Donald Trump administration.
In a late April letter to Pollock, BLM District Manager Ahmed Mohsen said the agency determined the project was "reasonable and necessary."
(The segment of road) has a gravel surface that is relatively rough in places, and which has experienced wash boarding in others that the county believes causes driving discomfort and safety issues.
"The 7.5 mile segment of the Burr Trail that Garfield County wants to chip seal has a gravel surface that is relatively rough in places, and which has experienced wash boarding in others that the county believes causes driving discomfort and safety issues for the traveling public," he wrote. "Further, the gravel and water sources in the area that could be used to maintain this portion of the road are becoming increasingly scarce and difficult to obtain."
Mohsen noted the difference between chip-sealing from concrete or asphalt paving due to its "relatively low impact and low cost."
The BLM manager also pointed to a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling over disputed rights of way involving sections of that Burr Trail, including that particular section, in which the court concluded that improvements were consistent with the historic alignment of the road.
The environmental groups say the county lacks an adjudicated right of way to that section of the road.
