BLM's San Rafael travel-management decision takes effect; agency, county officials weigh implementation and access concerns

Bureau of Land Management staff told the Emery County Public Lands Council on Jan. 8 that the agency’s final travel-management decision for the San Rafael Swell area is in effect and will be implemented on the ground unless a federal judge issues a stay.

BLM Price Field Office staff described the final network as: 1,355 miles of designated routes open to motorized travel (with 41 of those miles limited to certain vehicle types or sizes); about 67 miles of additional designated routes versus prior management; roughly 240 miles that had been closed or undesignated and are now designated for motorized public use; and roughly 58 miles of previously open routes that are now closed. The office distributed a decision record and route-by-route rationale table that staff said runs several hundred pages.

The decision was signed by an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of the Interior. That signature, BLM staff said, removed the administrative appeal period that typically follows a field-office decision; it did not preclude litigation, and the agency acknowledged that parties may still challenge the…