By the SEMA Washington, D.C., office
SEMA and its motorized partners, including the Off-Road Business Association (ORBA), One Voice, United Four-Wheel Drive Association (U4WD) and the United Snowmobile Alliance (USA), submitted a joint comment to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regarding its travel management plan (TMP) for the San Rafael Swell, which encompasses more than 1.1 million acres in southeastern Utah. The TMP will impact nearly 2,200 miles of routes as open, limited or closed for off-road vehicle use. You can read the joint comment on the San Rafael Swell Travel Management Plan here.
Our joint comment raised concerns about inconsistencies in former TMPs that offered the opportunity to potentially expand motorized recreation in areas that are now located in over 400,000 acres of Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) that were designated in 2019. Historically, once federal lands are classified as WSAs, opportunities are limited for any type of motorized access in those areas.
The joint comment highlights our organizations' issues with each of the four alternatives that the agency presented in its proposal for the new management.
- Alternative A failed to establish the baseline of the 2008 management plan, as many routes were reflected in the 2008 baseline map that were not included in the Alternative A map in 2024.
- Alternative B fails to provide any meaningful opportunities for multiple-use recreation. It closes 949 miles (44%) of routes.
- Alternative C closes 454 miles (21%) of routes.
- Alternative D is the most favorable of the four options, as it proposes to close only 52 miles (2%) of routes. However, existing Resource Management Program (RMP)/TMP decisions that were challenged in 2017 already closed more than 730 miles (about 25%) in the planning area, effectively resulting in a 27% closure rate from historical usage.
For questions or more information on this issue, contact Tiffany Cipoletti at tiffanyc@sema.org.