Roads to nowhere

[jackjoh]

ROADS TO NOWHERE???

The “Close off Public Lands” groups are at it again with their latest attack on RS2477 claims of roads by Utah State Government agencies. See “Groups blast Utah for laying claim to ‘roads to nowhere’” in the Des News dated 4/25/12. It is not bad enough to have already closed over 6,500 miles of roads in the State through politics, Escalante and Red Rocks Wilderness, and lawsuits with false claims but now that they have been virtually stopped because the people and politicians in Utah caught on to what they were doing they have to find a new way to spend their millions of dollars. Millions of dollars they get from back East Foundations and individuals because Utahans and westerners caught on that it was just hurting the economy and a life style.

Now where do these roads to nowhere go? There are Scenic overlooks and Vistas that Utah is noted for World wide. Places that have already been closed like Canaan Mtn. (old historical mine site) Paria River Canyon (rugged beauty and old movie sets) that should be reopened. There are Arches, Petroglyphs, Caves, Mines, Rockhound collecting sites and Ghost towns. It is bad enough that they want to close off these areas to old folks like me but also the handicapped and to my children and grandchildren in their vehicles while leaving them open to healthy eastern hikers.

You can thank yourselves and U4WDA for getting the word out to the public and politicians that has caused SUWA and others to take this ridiculous step.​

 

[Kevin B.]

Seems to me that if the road goes "nowhere", then there's nothing there to "protect" and no need to close it, right?

 

[sixstringsteve]

how else are they going to keep making money?

 

[jackjoh]

Money is the name of the game. They draw in about 2 million dollars a year and keep about 20 people employed and if nothing else those people do not want to loose their jobs.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Sad that their moral compass is that far off that they keep creating work for themselves without contemplating the affect it has on others. Screw handicap people. If they can't walk, they don't deserve to see the southern wilderness.

 

[zukijames]

i talked to clay egan and david adams and was hoping they could use the disabilities to fight against closing there acesss to utah.. clay didnt seem interested though

 

[cruiseroutfit]

While there is a very viable argument in the access of disabled citizens, it won't apply to many of these routes. I've seen firsthand some of the inventories contained in this situation as well as the very extensive and throurough inventory documentation attached (i.e. photos linked to GPS, etc). Many are weaves or parallel routes that converge on the same location, thus you can't really argue that access for the disabled is limited. Kinda like a wheel-chair bound patron can't be mad they have to take the elevator rather than see the view from the stairwell? (I know that's a bad example but its the best I could come up with). Many of these roads do have very limited travel history, i.e. one would have a hard time identifying it as a road, I'm not saying it should be considered a road particularly if it serves the transportation and recreation needs of our citizens however if it comes down to a public perception, the State of Utah and some counties may get portrayed as 'fraudulent' in their assertions of routes? Kinda like asking a group of people off the street if they like coal mines in their favorite camping spot, of course not, therefor they are for Wilderness

As I eluded to in recent threads about the RS2477 claims, my only hope is that this is a battle of extremes. Meaning the state/counties ask for X+50% and the anti-motorized groups ask for X-50% and in the end we up with X which is a fair representation of the actual ground situation. I feel this is the way the recent RMP's went down, some groups asked for the 'leave it all open', some asked for 'close it all down', myself and many (U4's official stance) were to take the middle ground, close where appropriate, leave open to protect recreation interests. In the end that 'X' worked out in our favor and while we had some losses, we tried and I feel our level stance benefited us more than the extreme. Some routes we did lose (Coyote Canyon) for example wasn't even an option to win as it was too new to be considered... so discounting that yet including the Mashed Potato, Pickle area trails (big thanks to Jeff Stevens and MFFW) I think it was an example of a successful process.

 

[jackjoh]

What Kurt said and after long discussions with BLM, CA4WDC, CORVA, and FS the access for handicapped can not be used as a legal means of keeping roads open. It can only be used on an emotional or justice for all type basis.

Did you happen to notice the piece by the FS that Wilderness is detrimental to keeping the Pine Beetle from destroying the forests?

 

[zukijames]

thank you kurt and jack and mffw and everyone else for all you do