Posted on 10/18/2006 9:46:12 PM PDT by george76
Richard Beardall is getting exactly what he wanted: a trespassing ticket from federal land managers for ignoring the rules and riding his ATV on a closed road in the San Rafael Swell.
Beardall, three other ATV riders and a Jeep, moved a 10-foot barricade near an old uranium mine and made a half-mile roundtrip along the access road to the Muddy River on Saturday.
The Bureau of Land Management closed the area to recreational vehicles in 1993 due to riparian damage, said Price, Utah-based BLM manager Roger Bankert.
Beardall, president of the Americans with Disabilities Access Alliance knows that, but he and others are angry over the closing of public lands, Bankert said.
"He wants the ticket to go to court and challenge the closure," said Bankert, who is in his fourth week on the job.
The citation carries a penalty of about $250 and would have to be challenged before a federal magistrate, Bankert said.
"We did nothing wrong by accessing our county road on our public land," Beardall said Monday. "We plan to plead not guilty."
Beardall, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair, says a legal challenge may be the only way to restore access to much of Utah's public lands to the elderly and disabled who can't access wilderness areas on foot.
No BLM rangers or paid staff were on hand to witness Saturday's ride. A check of the area Monday found no damages caused by the riders, Bankert said.
For now, only Beardall is being cited, but Bankert said he would issue additional citations if he obtained the names of other riders.
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San Rafael Swell should be some what accessable , too.
IMHO
Closing public lands is not nice !
Is he trying to do this on his wheelchair? I don't see the discrimination here.
I understand the concept. Reasonable access should never be denied. I don't know the area so I should probably STFU at this point.
San Rafael Swell is full of uranium mines and mining roads from the WW II and cold war eras. Some of the mines are still hot.
It is quite dry with some small streams and seasonal ( often dry ) stream beds.
The Sierra Club and friends have been closing down this and other areas. Much of the BLM has been taken over by the greenies and there have been legal fights for a long time. Most of the various counties have county roads that they want to keep open.
Some of the counties are over 90 percent public lands, so to go from small town to town...one has to cross " government " lands.
Recreation has traditionally been hunting, fishing, jeeping, camping, biking, and hiking. Thus the local sheriffs try to keep the rural areas open and the greenies inside the BLM try to keep them closed.
The 529 rule has been very important in keeping the public lands somewhat open.
but RS 2477 Rights:
The Official RS 2477 Rights-of-way Homepage :
Do you enjoy hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, birding, off-road vehicle use, wildlife, mountain biking, backpacking, nature photography, horseback riding, rock hounding, climbing, or any other recreational use of the public lands?
http://www.rs2477roads.com/
The article did not say, and I do not know, but...
I guess that Richard Beardall turned himself in to force the ticket which should trigger a court case to test weather the BLM violated the RS 2477 Rights-of-way .
The area is south of I-70 near Moab, Green River, and further west in Utah.
Sounds nice. Haven't made it that far west yet though.
Thanks. It is nice.
http://www.cortezjournal.com/archives/1news984.htm
bump.later
Thanks for the ping george.
There are millions of square miles of beauty that are held in reserve for the American people (ALL American People...not just the enviro-wackos.) It should be open and available to people of age, disability, and low income. This is discrimination!!
Thanks.
We agree :
" It should be open and available to people of age, disability, and low income. This is discrimination!! "
There was a massive effort during the Clinton years to close off public lands. Thousands of roads were closed. Areas were then declared roadless in attempts to get them turned into "Wilderness Areas" by the tree huggers. I even remember one incident where a small boy was lost or injured and the rescue helicopter was not allowed to land because of the Wilderness designation. I did my part in the Sagebrush Rebellion. I forced the National Park Service to reopen one road and filed RS 2477 claims on another to interfere with their plans.
>I forced the National Park Service to reopen one road and filed RS 2477 claims on another to interfere with their plans.<
Expand on this please.
" Good for Beardall! "
Clinton and the Sierra Club were and are terrible.
They are trying to lock up everything.
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