October 13, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY - An off-road group plans to defy federal authorities Saturday by toppling a barricade and motoring along a southern Utah dirt road that was closed by the government three years ago.
Go ahead and ticket us, say the all-terrain vehicle riders, who are angry over the closing of public lands, most recently around Factory Butte, a monolith that towers over the San Rafael desert and harbors pockets of protected cacti.
They plan to shove aside a 10-foot barricade at the old Hidden Splendor uranium mine, where a mining road drops into spectacular Muddy River canyon.
The Bureau of Land Management will be ready _ even if rangers have to drive 2 1/2 hours to write tickets.
Richard Beardall, president of Americans with Disabilities Access Alliance, is looking for a crowd of off-roaders to drive a few hundred yards to the river and back.
They'll move the buck-and-pole barricade back into place after the protest, then accept citations that could run $300 apiece, an event others plan to videotape.
Beardall "wants a ticket to make his point and go to court on the issue. He'll get a ticket," BLM field manager Roger Bankert said.
It's a protest against rules adopted in 2003 that limited travel on the San Rafael Swell, not the neighboring Factory Butte district where the BLM just last month banned off-roading from a 222-square-mile area.
But off-roaders are angry about that, too.
[full article]
SALT LAKE CITY - An off-road group plans to defy federal authorities Saturday by toppling a barricade and motoring along a southern Utah dirt road that was closed by the government three years ago.
Go ahead and ticket us, say the all-terrain vehicle riders, who are angry over the closing of public lands, most recently around Factory Butte, a monolith that towers over the San Rafael desert and harbors pockets of protected cacti.
They plan to shove aside a 10-foot barricade at the old Hidden Splendor uranium mine, where a mining road drops into spectacular Muddy River canyon.
The Bureau of Land Management will be ready _ even if rangers have to drive 2 1/2 hours to write tickets.
Richard Beardall, president of Americans with Disabilities Access Alliance, is looking for a crowd of off-roaders to drive a few hundred yards to the river and back.
They'll move the buck-and-pole barricade back into place after the protest, then accept citations that could run $300 apiece, an event others plan to videotape.
Beardall "wants a ticket to make his point and go to court on the issue. He'll get a ticket," BLM field manager Roger Bankert said.
It's a protest against rules adopted in 2003 that limited travel on the San Rafael Swell, not the neighboring Factory Butte district where the BLM just last month banned off-roading from a 222-square-mile area.
But off-roaders are angry about that, too.
[full article]
