A first hand report by Executive Director, Josh Ewing
Frustrated with years of delay from the BLM in deciding the fate of a proposed ATV trail in Recapture Canyon, protestors rode their machines into the Canyon on Saturday, May 10th. Because of recent events where BLM employees had been threatened with violence and because of the confrontational attitudes of some militia-type riders who came to town for the ride, many conservation groups decided not to send supporters into the canyon.Friends of Cedar Mesa was not even in existence when the Recapture controversy started, so we had not been highly involved with the issue. However, I did feel that someone from the conservation community really needed to be there to see what happened and document the event. Two other Bluff locals volunteered to join me, and we hiked into the canyon and waited for ATV riders to show up.
As you can see in the below video, the Canyon is a beautiful place, and I’m sure a fun place to ride.
Beautiful Recapture Canyon: The setting for the ATV protest ride from Joshua Ewing on Vimeo.
We staged approximately at the spot where Commissioner Lyman had indicated earlier in the week that he would turn around. It was a good spot to illustrate the canyon’s cultural resources, with a ruin directly above the turn around spot. This is the end of the old road that was constructed to put in a pipeline for Blanding’s water supply. We later learned that Lyman had called for the group not to enter the closed part of the canyon, but vocal people at the rally held beforehand forced his hand.
We estimate 55-60 vehicles arrived at our spot, which was at least a mile into the closure area. The group appeared to be a mix of local Blanding/Monticello residents and out-of-state militia/Bundy types. From what we could tell two adult relatives of Clive Bundy were in the group. I would estimate half of the riders were openly carrying fire-arms, with a few with assault rifles. While a couple of folks attempted to provoke us, we maintained our observer role.
The locals we recognized were very friendly and truly appeared to be acting on their strongly held beliefs. We had some good, non-confrontational conversations at the turn around spot. I want to emphasize that many of the local people who were in attendance are friends and neighbors — fellow firefighters, business owners, healthcare providers and good family people. None of us should let our disagreements about land use issues stand between respecting our fellow San Juan County residents, even when we may disagree.
We did not see any BLM officials at all in the canyon. Early in the day, we did spot some County law enforcement on horseback further north in the canyon, but they did not come down to where people congregated.
See the video below to get a feel for what the protest in the canyon looked like.
Recapture Canyon: Arrival of ATV protest about 1 mile into closed area from Joshua Ewing on Vimeo.
Contrary to published reports, the majority of the riders continued into the canyon. Less than half turned around to return out the north end. To his credit, Commissioner Phil Lyman did turn around, as he said he would do. After the group dispersed, I followed the ATVers down canyon on foot. I got lots of comments about my minimalist sandals. (People think I’m crazy hiking the way the ancient ones did.)
Some of the places the ATVs passed through were so overgrown that it looked like a shredder had passed through. The stream crossings became very treacherous to pass on foot, and I face planted once in the mud (…at least no one was watching). Much of the trail, however, just looked like a typical ATV trail – dusty and well worn – after dozens of riders had passed. I did get to see some of the significant (but unauthorized) work the original trail creators had done to make the trail passable, such as a dugway and wooden bridge.
See the below video for a little feel for the trail conditions after the group of ATV riders passed through.
Recapture Canyon-Trail conditions after the atv protest ride from Joshua Ewing on Vimeo.
The group of ATV riders did not ride all the way down the canyon to the Perkins Road. The group exited the canyon at the gravel pit (Browns Canyon) area.
Along the route between the dam and Brown’s Canyon, I passed dozens of well preserved cliff dwellings and saw lots of pottery and lithics along the side of the trail. I also encountered a fabulous and unique beaver pond area, where a hiker the day before reported seeing a Blue Heron with a 6-foot wing span. The heron wasn’t around when I showed up.
As my friend Bob had promised to pick me up at the Perkins Road, I trudged on down the now 7+-year-old track. In the bottom part of the canyon, the trail is impossible to see in many places, having been reclaimed by floods. However, whenever the trail climbed out of the stream bed onto a bench, there seemed to be significant cultural sites. I saw three
multi-room pueblo structures, all of which the old trail had passed through or very close to.
After hiking 10ish dusty miles, I was very happy to see my trusty friend Bob there, who had hiked in to escort me out. Good man!
After a quick catch up, we headed back to Bluff. We had plenty to talk about, and I needed to return a call from a reporter at USA Today. Distracted, we didn’t notice for far too long that my trusty-but-worn 1996 4-Runner had a nasty punctured tire. Some days, you just gotta roll with the punches!
What comes next
I’m thankful the ATV rally turned out to be a peaceful act of civil disobedience. I really can understand, to some degree, the frustration of the riders. It’s a shame the situation has had to come to this, due, in my opinion, to delays in decision making and the failure of reasonable people to sit down together and do things legally.
I expect one day I will be given no choice but to stand up for protecting a special place, and I too will engage in civil disobedience. If that time ever comes, I’ll be prepared to face legal responsibility for my actions. In this case, we should all expect our government to follow through on its promises to uphold the law. I don’t think anything heavy handed needs to happen. But the rule of law needs to be respected. As such, the BLM should take steps to cite/fine those who broke the law.
I think if the BLM does this job in a diplomatic and respectful manner, it can regain some authority in the west. And perhaps, there can be another chance at some reasonable dialogue around management of public lands in San Juan County. If you’re looking to get your voice heard in this discussion. I’d encourage you to write to Utah BLM Director Juan Palma and tell him to follow through with his commitments. While you’re at it, write Congressman Rob Bishop and tell him to get to work resolving some of these disputes in a straight-up legal method through Congress. Also, please support our work of being a reasonable voice in this situation, by donating today!