Utah counties file lawsuits against BLM over RS2477 roads

By this time next week, 22 of Utah's 29 counties will have filed lawsuits against the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management, seeking title to thousands of miles of contested roads that cross federally managed lands. Beaver, Box Elder, Carbon, Duchesne, Emery, Piute, Rich, Sanpete, Utah and Wayne counties had all filed individual lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City as of Friday night. The state of Utah is listed as a plaintiff in each of the suits as well, and expects to join the remaining 12 county lawsuits that should be filed Monday and Tuesday, according to Utah's chief deputy attorney general John Swallow. "We're trying to protect the roads that Utahns have used for decades," Swallow said. "If we don't file these lawsuits, we can't even protect the roads, and so the federal government can actually close down the roads and obliterate our rights to use those roads." The state said in December that it would seek quiet title to 19,000 segments of so-called RS2477 roads in 22 counties. The RS2477 issue — under contention in the courts for more than a decade — epitomizes the public lands fight involving environmentalists, counties, industry, ranchers and shared-access advocates. The dispute involves rights-of-way access granted by the federal government in 1866 for the development of transportation systems. Although the congressional act establishing those rights was later withdrawn in 1976 with a new federal land planning act, the access rights of local government were supposed to stay intact. Duchesne County Commissioner Kent Peatross said he's always believed "we don't need a road down every canyon and ridge." "But we need access that allows the general population to experience the public lands in a reasonable manner," he said. "Not everyone can walk, not everyone has a horse, and so a vehicle is the easiest and most common way to do that."...more