We wanted to let you know about some potentially bad news regarding Hey Joe Canyon. As many of you know, there is a huge land use bill that is being put together by Representative Bob Bishop which will cover 7 different southern Utah Counties. He is asking for County input about specifics for each area. Grand County currently has a liberal majority on our County Council, and as a result of this has made the recommendation for a lot of additional wilderness, and a huge national conservation area, which will result in the closing down of well over 100 miles of dirt roads. So far none of these recommendations have affected Jeep Safari routes, until yesterday.
At this point, the County Council is recommending that Hey Joe Canyon only be open from November 1 through the week after Jeep Safari. This is supposedly to "avoid user conflict with rafters seeking solitude in the Labyrinth Canyon of the Green River."
This is better than an all out closure, but in my opinion, not by much. How many people are going to be willing to drive down that steep, windy switchback trail when there is a high probability of ice and snow on the trail? I think they are counting on not very many people doing it, which will give them the justification in the future to close it down permanently.
If you do not agree with the decision, or any of the decisions they have made regarding wilderness, closed roads, or anything, it is not too late to let your opinion be heard. The County Council has yet to send in their final, formal recommendation to Representative Bishop. If you would like your opinion to be known PLEASE send a letter to the Grand County Council. Be civil, nice, but firm.
Thank you.
Grand County Council email:
council@grandcountyutah.net
P.S. If you would like to make your opinion heard in public, there will be a public hearing on Tuesday, March 17 at the Grand Center at 7 PM. Just know that your speech will be limited to 3 minutes. At this point, I am not positive if they will let people who live out of the county speak or not. It depends on how they set up the guidelines for this meeting.
