Ogden Sierra Club -- Off-Road Vehicles

Use of off-road vehicles (ATV's, dirt bikes, pickups, and SUV's) is widespread on the public and private lands surrounding Ogden. Much of this activity is perfectly legal and no more harmful to the environment than driving a car along a highway. Unfortunately, illegal use of ORV's is also widespread, and tends to be extremely damaging to vegetation, watersheds, wildlife habitat, and opportunities for quiet and solitude in our public lands. Illegal ORV use also violates private property rights and is frequently unsafe for both riders and others whom they encounter. To compound the problem, signing and law enforcement tend to be minimal, so the boundary between legal and illegal ORV use is often unclear.

In recent years, the Ogden Sierra Club has played a lead role in documenting ORV-related problems in our area, lobbying land managers to take action, and educating the public about this issue. Please browse through the documents linked below to learn more.

• Ogden Ranger District Travel Plan Revision. In April, 2006, District Ranger Chip Sibbernsen issued a decision to open dozens of additional routes in the Ogden Ranger District to motorized travel. Many routes are to be converted from nonmotorized trails into motorized roads and trails, while several completely new ATV trails are to be constructed. This decision is the latest step in a multi-year effort by the Forest Service to promote ORV use at the expense of quiet recreation.
  • Conservationists Appeal Ogden Ranger District Decision on ATV Trails (press release and several illustrative photos)
  • Full text of our appeal (pdf, 220 kB)
  • Photo tours of three of the routes most affected by the recent decision:
    • Box Elder Creek - Black Mountain trail (in the Willard roadless area south of Mantua)
    • Public Grove - Devil's Gate jeep trail (north of Ogden Valley, connecting the Liberty-Avon road to the Willard road)
    • Mollen's Hollow overlook - Tilda Spring trails (in the northern Monte Cristo range, southeast of Hardware Ranch)
  • You can download the Final Environmental Impact Statement and associated maps from the Wasatch-Cache National Forest web site.
  • Our March, 2005 comments on the Draft EIS (pdf, 292 kB)
  • This photo essay summarizes many of the issues raised by the original scoping proposal. The text is now out of date, due to the many differences between the original and current proposals.
  • Our initial response to the Scoping Document
  • Our formal comments on the Scoping Document

• The Ogden Sierra Club has released a 30-page report titled Public Disinformation: How the Forest Service Encourages Illegal Off-Road Vehicle Use. The report describes more than two dozen ways in which the Ogden Ranger District has failed to effectively implement its designated-routes-only policy toward motorized travel.
  • Read the press release summarizing the report
  • Download the full report (pdf, 1.8 MB)
  • Update: During the two months following the release of our report, the signing and public information in the Ogden District have improved significantly. Here is a letter to the editor thanking the District Ranger for these improvements. However, it remains to be seen whether the Forest Service administration will adopt policies to ensure that these problems are solved elsewhere.

• Off-Road Vehicles in the Northern Wasatch. This introductory article summarizes some of the problems affecting the Ogden area, the current push to open more ORV routes, and the response of the environmental community.

• Northern Utah Trail System (NUTS). This page summarizes the ever-changing status of this ORV mega-trail project spanning hundreds of square miles of northern Utah. The project used to be called the Shoshone Trail.
  • Our old Shoshone Trail web page is now rather out of date but may still be informative.
  • Press release on our appeal of the NUTS provision in the WCNF Plan
  • Full text of our appeal

• Southern Utah's Paiute Trail provided the inspiration for NUTS. This photo-essay highlights some of the issues, similarities, and differences.

• Snowmobile use can create many of the same problems as summer ORV use. This brief photo essay documents a few of these problems and the similar attitude of the Forest Service toward enforcement of closures.

• ORV travel maps for the Ogden area (for summer use--could be obsolete by next season)

• Text of President Nixon's executive order on ORV managment within public lands. Yes, there was a time when Republican presidents cared about the environment.

• Much (though not all) of the content of this Executive Order is codified in the Code of Federal Regulations:
  • 36 CFR 261.13 (prohibits careless, reckless, and damaging use)
  • 36 CFR 295.2 (ORV-related planning in National Forests)
  • 36 CFR 295.3 (public participation in travel planning decisions)
  • 36 CFR 295.4 (public information on ORV regulations)
  • 36 CFR 295.5 (requirement for monitoring of ORV impacts and immediate closure when there are "considerable adverse effects")
  • 36 CFR 295.6 (annual review of travel plan)

• We maintain a photographic database of ORV impacts in the Ogden area. The database contains over 1500 photos with GPS coordinates and location maps. Access to the database requires a password. If you are affiliated with the Sierra Club, an allied organization, or a public land management agency, feel free to request the password from Dan Schroeder, 801-393-4603, . Please explain briefly who you are and how you wish to use the database.

• We work with these other terrific organizations on ORV issues:
  • Great Old Broads for Wilderness
  • Western Resource Advocates
  • Bear River Watershed Council
  • The Wilderness Society
  • Save Our Canyons
  • The Wild Utah Project
  • Wildlands CPR
  • Natural Trails and Waters Coalition

Volunteer opportunities: If you would like to help us with ORV monitoring or public education, please contact Dan Schroeder, 801-393-4603, .

Back to Ogden Sierra Club

Last modified on 2 July 2006.