Grand County camping remains off limits to out-of-county visitors

SALT LAKE CITY — Not everything is opening up in Utah this weekend.

Camping in and around Moab, for example, remains off-limits to visitors from outside of Grand County and is available to residents only and people deemed essential workers.

“These closures are important to help Grand County and the Southeast Utah Health Department manage its phased reopening of lodging in Grand County by controlling the amount of recreational tourism that increases impacts upon our small critical-access hospital, medical and law enforcement teams, and Grand County EMS and search and rescue, which is the busiest in all of Utah,” said the county attorney’s office in a statement released Thursday.

The office reminded outdoor enthusiasts that all national parks in southeast Utah remain closed and dispersed camping is operating under the resident-only restrictions.

Semi-developed campgrounds with pit toilets and other facilities are not being cleaned and sanitized, increasing the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus.

Face coverings are strongly being recommended for all public indoor and outdoor places when people are not able to maintain safe, social distancing of 6 feet or more from others not in their household, the office said.

In addition, the Intermountain region of the U.S. Forest Service has issued a 10-person group size limit for outdoor recreation on National Forest System lands in Idaho.

While the agency said this group size order may seem to place further restrictions on the recreating public, it may allow national forest lands to open some previously closed sites, and can provide an alternative to closing sites where social distancing cannot be ensured.

“We greatly value the opportunity for people to use their public lands, and we fully recognize the connection people have with national forests,” said Dave Rosenkrance, deputy regional forester. “Our intent in issuing this group size order is not to reduce recreation opportunities, but in fact, this may allow us to open some sites that had been closed due to COVID-19, while ensuring the safety of our employees and the public.”

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Forest service lands in Utah are not operating under any restrictions, but land managers urge outdoor enthusiasts to practice social distancing and other guidelines put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Utah Division of Parks and Recreation is also revising its guidelines for its 44 parks, which are open for business with some operational restrictions — especially at high-traffic parks and after an extremely busy weekend at reservoir locations in southern Utah.

“We’re committed to maintaining the health and wellness of our staff and visitors. After last weekend, it’s evident that a few changes are necessary to increase safety and social distancing at our busiest parks,” said Jeff Rasmussen, director of the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation. “We all play a role in keeping each other safe and healthy. We hope these changes contribute to a better visitor experience, and we ask those coming to state parks to do their part and practice responsible recreation.”

The parks division is asking people to visit parks close to home and during a weekday or nonpeak hours, to practice safe social distancing and avoid congregating at trailheads. Visitors are strongly encouraged to visit the specific park websites for information related to coronavirus.

To help keep state parks operating efficiently while continuing to promote adequate social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Utah State Parks will be undergoing some temporary operational changes.

• Visitor capacity at high-visitation parks will be reduced and will now be determined by the number of developed parking spaces available inside the park.
• State parks will partner with local law enforcement and the Utah Highway Patrol to enforce highway parking restrictions at select parks in southern Utah.
• Primitive camping will be closed or reduced at high-traffic parks. This allows visitors more room to spread apart and practice social distancing.
• Increased law enforcement and staff presence will be added inside the parks to encourage social distancing and responsible recreation compliance.
• Park managers will update capacity estimates on their individual park social media pages and websites throughout the weekend.
• The parks division advised that the restrictions are temporary and subject to change depending on circumstances related to coronavirus.

An order issued by the Southeast Utah Health Department on Thursday also set new guidelines for public lodging and hotels in Carbon, Emery and Grand Counties.

For every party that checks in, hotel staff will be required to keep a copy of the “head of household’s” driver’s license for 30 days, an effort officials hope will aid in epidemiological tracking. The order also imposes a “rest period” for each room, meaning hotel staff will have to wait 24 hours after each party checks out before renting the room out again.

According to the order, the rest period allows cleaning staff to thoroughly disinfect the room and seeks to “provide some time for the virus to decay.”

Capacity at commercial campgrounds and RV parks will also be limited to 50%, while cabin occupancy is limited to 30%.

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