Trails committee focuses on parking, culverts and adding canal‑reuse language to County General Plan

The Emery County trails committee spent the bulk of its meeting on trail maintenance and planning, including parking and culvert repairs, outreach for festival and climbing activities, and a proposal to add language to the County General Plan encouraging staff to consider converting abandoned ditches and canals to trails.

On trail operations, Speaker 6 reported frequent parking problems and occasional tows on a steep dirt road near climbing areas and proposed new signage and a relocated parking spot to keep climbers out of the travel lane. "There's been like 4 cars, 2 had to be towed out," Speaker 6 said, and added that the group will coordinate with road crews and "put in that new parking spot with Canyon." Committee members discussed whether an approximately 18‑inch culvert would be needed and agreed that Jim and others will reassess the site and coordinate with county road staff.

Speaker 3 asked the committee to insert a short statement in the County General Plan to flag abandoned ditches and canals as potential trail corridors before easements are relinquished. "Before they relinquish, look at the possibility of using them for trails," Speaker 3 said, noting rights‑of‑way often already exist and that the plan could signal interest without resolving liability or maintenance details.

Committee members discussed liability and dual use for flood control, with Speaker 6 noting that owners and the county would need clarity on maintenance and liability before any conversion. Speaker 9 emphasized the General Plan can identify the potential without having every implementation detail solved: it "can just say that those ditches and canal right away could can be considered for the trail system."

On events and access, Speaker 6 described trouble obtaining festival insurance: insurers "wouldn't even quote us insurance till 2 weeks, 3 weeks out," which complicates planning and pre‑purchase; the committee noted guide companies with permits and insurance could host insured tours but that those services would need to be paid for. Speaker 5 said a recent grant for mapping and site checks has been accepted and paid and urged outreach to make the community aware of new trail access and waiver procedures for some privately managed trail segments.

Operational updates included a visiting Colorado crew scheduled for an eight‑day single‑track build and state crew projects on dry washes and other trail maintenance. The committee also discussed enforcement challenges during the BLM shutdown and volunteer efforts to staff sensitive rock‑art sites. Finally, Speaker 5 announced vacancies on the travel board following two departures and said recruitment would begin.

Next steps recorded in the meeting included field reassessment of parking/culvert sites, coordination with road crews on approach work, and suggested General Plan language to be drafted and submitted for review.