OPINION/COMMENTARY

UTAH TRAIL GROUPS FIGHT PARK SERVICE CLOSURE OF ROAD

The closure of a recreational road by the National Park Service (NPS) violates the will of Congress that the road be kept open to the public, several recreational groups asserted during oral argument today in Utah federal district court in Salt Lake City. Therefore, argued the groups, the court should invalidate the NPS’s recent decision to close Salt Creek Road in Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. Today’s oral argument is only the latest legal action after nearly ten years of litigation involving the NPS and an environmental group concerning Salt Creek Road, which accesses Angel Arch. “The attempt by the National Park Service to ‘cook the books’ in this endless battle failed because there is still no evidence that the environment will be harmed by keeping this road open,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which represents the recreational groups seeking to keep Salt Creek Road open. “In August 2000, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit delivered a harsh rebuke to the National Park Service for illegally closing the road and for reversing its position on appeal, yet the National Park Service and its lawyers have arrogantly refused to do what the law mandates that they do, which is to keep the road open for the public.”....

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