Anyone know what sand dunes they are talking about?

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OHVs banned in southeastern Utah
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY - The Bureau of Land Management has banned off-road recreational vehicles from two square miles of sand dunes and red rock cliffs northwest of Bluff in southeastern Utah over fears that riders were damaging historic cultural resources.

Bluff residents petitioned the BLM to address the problem, BLM spokesman Scott Berkenfield said.

BLM archaeologists were also concerned that the vehicles had damaged native vegetation in addition to the plentiful rock art sites, said Berkenfield, who works in the Monticello field office.

The Bluff area rock art is more than 2,000 years old and the sites are more difficult to identify than some other Utah sites, archaeologist Jim Carter said.

Use restrictions for the area, which borders privately owned land, will remain in place until the BLM can assess the wider issue of off-road vehicle use throughout San Juan County. The agency is in the midst of reconsidering land-use plans across the state.

Lynell Schalk, president of the Bluff Landowners Coalition said she hopes new land management plans will permanently close the area to off-road riders. Over the past three years, residents have seen an increase in the number of riders and site damage, she said.

"If (the closure) is really going through, it's long overdue," said Schalk, a former BLM law enforcement officer who investigated vehicle damage at historic sites in California, Washington and Oregon. "Citizens have been trying for almost five years to get them to do something about it."

All-terrain vehicle enthusiasts did not return telephone messages from The Associated Press on Monday.

Presently, hikers tend to outnumber all-terrain vehicle drivers on the 1,835 acres closed, Berkenfield

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index...rs/75-ohvs.inc

 

Sounds like a bunch of horse pucky to me. IMO the greenies aren't going to be happy until there is nowhere in the U.S.A for us to ride.

Next thing you know they'll have us wiping our backsides with sheet metal cause THEY think it will help the re-growth of the forests.

 

Sounds like maybe the bluffs needed some protection, but why 2 square miles of sand dunes? We all know that after the wind blows for 5 minutes, all traces of man have been erased...

Just another Enviro-**** ploy to close more dunes. I'm betting that the blue ribbon coalition will be on this one... but they need our $Support$..

Everyone should join up and donate to the cause!