Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Federal court hears appeal on Canyonlands park

The federal government said Wednesday it has control over highway access in national monuments even if no official notice was given, in a case that could affect highway rights of way on federal public land across the country. Aaron Avila, attorney for the U.S. Justice Department, told an appeals court panel Wednesday that the federal government had the right to close a disputed highway right of way in an ecologically sensitive streambed in Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. He said no one objected when barriers were put up in the 1970s in parts of a canyon limiting access, even though there were other access roads. Government supporters said the case could affect thousands of highway rights of way across federal public land nationwide, including areas that have been protected from roads and off-road vehicle use for years. The National Park Service closed a stream in Canyonlands National Park to off-road vehicle use in 2005 because of water pollution, crushed vegetation, degraded wildlife habitat and other impacts. San Juan County and the state of Utah sued the Park Service, arguing the government could not close the streambed to four-wheel-drive vehicles because it was a county and state highway. The county says it maintained and improved the road for the public for decades before the park was established. The state also claims the road was used from the 1920s to run cattle and haul supplies to established cowboy camps and had been a road for visitors and uranium prospectors since at least 1954...more

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