End of the road for Salt Creek trial

Attorneys for San Juan County and the state of Utah said Friday that they have proven the Salt Creek road in Canyonlands National Park was used continuously by the public from 1949 to 1998 and, therefore, should be open to Jeeps, all-terrain vehicles and other motorized travel. Federal attorneys disputed the evidence as dated and unreliable and said that, in any case, the county hadn't filed its road claim in time to beat a statute-of-limitations deadline. The sides made their closing arguments in a trial that has spanned three weeks and included a vehicular and airborne site visit Tuesday to help U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins make his decision, which will come later in writing. The fight over the rugged route, which is largely a stream bottom in the Needles section of the park on the way to Angel Arch, has pitted off-highway-vehicle enthusiasts, the county and the state against the National Park Service and conservation organizations. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance successfully sued the park service to close the route to off-roaders due to environmental damage, a decision the park service made provisionally in 1998 and finalized in 2003. San Juan County sued to reopen a 7.5-mile stretch under Revised Statute 2477, an old mining law that granted rights of way across public land. Congress repealed the statute in 1976, but existing claims were grandfathered in, leading to a series of road-ownership disputes that must be argued road by road in federal court...read more