Utah official plans illegal ATV ride through BLM canyon

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PUBLIC LANDS: Utah official plans illegal ATV ride through BLM canyon

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Tuesday, April 15, 2014

A county commissioner in southeast Utah is organizing an illegal all-terrain vehicle ride through a river canyon rich in archaeological ruins to protest what he argues is an overbearing federal government.

San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman said the May 8 ride through Recapture Canyon aims to assert the county's right to access federal lands, while prompting the Bureau of Land Management to reopen it to off-highway vehicles (OHV).

The ride, which Lyman publicized in a recent op-ed in the Deseret News, threatens another Western showdown over states' rights following BLM's failed bid last week to round up several hundred illegal cattle from public lands about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

BLM's roundup of cattle owned by rancher Cliven Bundy was backed by environmental groups and sanctioned by federal courts, but it attracted hundreds of protesters, many of them armed, and was called off amid threats of violence. Bundy does not recognize BLM's jurisdiction over the land and has been illegally grazing his cattle there for decades (Greenwire, April 14).

Lyman's ATV ride, which was planned well before the Bundy dust-up, carries a similar theme of a perceived breach of constitutional rights. But it's a dangerous trend, according to conservationists and legal experts who argue public lands are managed by BLM on behalf of all Americans, not just those who live around them.

"It's a freedom that's been taken without our consent," Lyman said in an interview yesterday, noting that the ride is not endorsed by San Juan County. "We have power and jurisdiction to do things independent of BLM."

On his Facebook page, Lyman takes a more revolutionary tone.

"As we approach independence day, let us contemplate what it means to be free and what we are willing to do to ensure that our children and their children inherit a free and flourishing San Juan County," he wrote March 2. "Remember that our revolutionary forefathers did not declare war, they declared independence, the war was only a consequence."

May 8 was chosen to commemorate the day that federal agents raided Blanding, Utah, homes in 1986 to confiscate what were believed to be illegally looted American Indian artifacts.

BLM declined to comment on the ride, but Juan Palma, the agency's Utah director, is trying to persuade Lyman to allow BLM's planning process to play out.

BLM closed Recapture Canyon to motorized recreation in 2007 after two Utah men used picks, shovels and other tools to blaze an illegal 7-mile OHV trail through it, damaging ancient cooking structures, rock walls and other priceless artifacts.

BLM's resource management plan in 2008 officially closed the area to OHVs for the foreseeable future while allowing 2,820 miles for motorized recreation elsewhere.

"The unauthorized ATV activity has permanently and significantly diminished the cultural heritage value of the archaeological resources at these sites to Native Americans and the American public as a whole, as well as their scientific value to archaeologists," said a 2007 report commissioned by BLM that inventoried more than $300,000 in archaeological damage.

Known by some as a "mini Mesa Verde," the canyon in southeast Utah contains an unusually dense collection of Anasazi and Pueblo sites dating back more than 2,000 years, including ceramic hearths and storage cisterns as well as cliff habitations, ceremonial kivas and ancient trash heaps -- evidence of a resident population.

San Juan in 2012 requested BLM to authorize a 14-mile right of way through portions of the canyon, arguing it could promote economic development in Blanding, about 3 miles west of the canyon, while reducing the threat of improvised trails (Greenwire, Feb. 4).

BLM will soon release an environmental assessment on the proposal, though it has made no decision on whether to approve it.

The issue set off a vigorous debate over how to balance the promotion and protection of American Indian sites in a county where experts estimate looters have raided most of the county's 28,000 known archaeological sites. Local conservationists and the Hopi Tribe oppose the plan, arguing it would reward the illegal trail builders and increase the risk of vandalism or looting.

But Lyman said the county is willing to reroute the trail around archaeological sites. He said BLM has been dragging its feet on the decision for far too long and that his ride hopes to show that "people do have options."

"The whole purpose was to prompt some sort of action," he said. Lyman said he also fears conservation groups, namely the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, hold an outsized influence over BLM through the threat of lawsuits. "They can basically stall this out forever," he said.

Lyman's plan also calls for improvement projects in Recapture including trail maintenance and signage.

But Liz Thomas, an attorney for SUWA in Moab, said riding the trail is going to cause the same damage that prompted BLM to close it in 2007.

"This is federal land, it's not county land," she said, noting that there are roughly 4,000 miles of other trails open to OHVs in San Juan. "I don't see a need for it. It's not a transportation issue, and it doesn't go anywhere."

The canyon is open to hikers and horseback riders.

Will this set a precedent?
Lyman said he and others are willing to be arrested or cited for the ride. But sources say there's little chance BLM will arrest violators. The agency is more likely to take names and turn them over to federal attorneys.

Such appeared to be the case in 2009, when hundreds of OHV riders illegally rode up the muddy Paria River that BLM had closed to vehicles in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah.

"People are the government," organizer Shawna Cox, dressed in a vest of the U.S. flag, told The Salt Lake Tribune then. "We need to go back to the Constitution. ... We're standing up for our rights to access."

Lyman said he's been told BLM will not arrest people for riding Recapture, but he's worried that the agency could take a more aggressive approach after being forced to back down in the Bundy roundup.

Robert Keiter, a professor of public lands at the University of Utah who serves on the board of the National Parks Conservation Association, said such rides have the potential to set a troubling tone particularly when they're led by government officials, even if acting in an unofficial capacity.

"Cumulatively, this could add up to foment further actions of this type," he said. "You have a legal process pending ... which potentially offers a solution to the problem."

Moreover, such rides threaten to derail collaborative efforts in southeast Utah among members of Congress, counties, conservationists, OHV riders and energy developers to craft socially sustainable land management solutions, he said.

"This has the potential to undermine the trust that's really essential for those efforts to succeed," he said.

Others say the ride, like Bundy's illegal cattle, sets a troubling precedent for law and order. Just this month, Utah's Iron County threatened to remove wild horses from the range if BLM failed to act, though the agency is now working with the county to cull the herd.

"It doesn't matter if you're an environmentalist, industrialist, rancher or county commissioner, public lands don't belong to any single person or entity. They belong to us all," said Ross Lane, director of the government watchdog group Western Values Project. "The preamble to our Constitution specifically mentions future generations, and we owe them the same great opportunities we have, not just some free-for-all society where people decide which laws to follow and which ones to ignore."

 

[DrMoab]

I have a serious problem with this. If they were protesting a right of way that had been closed for years like Pirea canyon, I'd be all for it but I don't think they should be able to go in and open new routes. Especially in a canyon like this.

 

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PUBLIC LANDS: BLM threatens civil, criminal action if Utah commissioner leads ATV ride

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The Bureau of Land Management is trying to dissuade a Utah county commissioner from leading an illegal all-terrain vehicle ride through a canyon known for its archaeological ruins, warning that he and his followers could face civil and criminal penalties.

BLM yesterday told San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman that his planned May 10 ride through Recapture Canyon would violate the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and federal archaeological protection laws -- which BLM intends to enforce.

"I strongly urge you to cancel the proposed ride in the closed portion of the canyon," Lance Porter, BLM's canyon country district manager, told Lyman in a letter obtained by Greenwire that was copied to U.S. Attorney David Barlow. "BLM will seek all appropriate civil and criminal penalties against anyone who participates in the proposed ride."

The ride, which Lyman publicized in a recent op-ed in the Deseret News, threatens another Western showdown over states' rights following BLM's failed bid earlier this month to round up several hundred illegal cattle owned by rancher Cliven Bundy from public lands about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Public lands advocates who oppose off-highway vehicle use and illegal ranching fear BLM's capitulation to armed militias and states' rights protesters in Nevada could embolden others across the West to challenge BLM's jurisdiction over public lands.

Lyman's ATV ride, which was planned long before the Bundy roundup, seeks to assert local control over federal lands and spur BLM to act more quickly on San Juan's request for a right of way through the canyon.

BLM closed Recapture to motorized recreation in 2007 after two Utah men used picks, shovels and other tools to blaze an illegal 7-mile OHV trail through it, damaging ancient cooking structures, rock walls and other priceless artifacts. The agency's resource management plan in 2008 officially closed the area to OHVs for the foreseeable future while allowing 2,820 miles for motorized recreation elsewhere.

"It's a freedom that's been taken without our consent," Lyman told Greenwire earlier this month. "We have power and jurisdiction to do things independent of BLM."

Lyman could not be reached this morning. The ride is not endorsed by San Juan's County Commission.

In his letter to Lyman, Porter says BLM will not be able to complete its environmental assessment for San Juan's proposed right of way ahead of the ride.

It said BLM will agree to Lyman's request that the agency show him cultural sites ahead of the ride as long as Lyman agrees in writing that the BLM tour does not indicate the agency's consent for the ride.

"Regarding San Juan County's right-of-way application ... we are striving to complete the process as soon as possible given our budget and personnel constraints," Porter wrote. But "the proposed ride will very likely hinder and possibly delay our ability to complete this process."

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), whose district includes Recapture Canyon, could not be reached for comment in time for publication.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, said he is deferring to Chaffetz to guide the delegation's position on the matter, but added that he sympathizes with San Juan for having to wait so long for BLM to decide on access to the canyon.

"I understand the frustration of local officials," Bishop said in an interview, calling BLM's delays in approving the right of way "a ridiculous time schedule."

He said better communication by BLM officials in Washington with local governments could go a long way toward defusing public lands controversies such as these and that in many cases states should be given a greater hand in managing the lands.

"Obviously, no one wants confrontation," Bishop said. "But we need more creativity from Washington in handling these issues."

Bishop didn't say whether he would support Lyman's ride, saying only that he understands the frustration.

San Juan in 2012 requested BLM to authorize a 14-mile right of way through portions of the canyon, arguing that it could promote economic development in Blanding, about 3 miles west of the canyon, while reducing the threat of improvised trails (Greenwire, Feb. 4).

The issue set off a vigorous debate over how to balance the promotion and protection of American Indian sites in a county where experts estimate looters have raided most of the county's 28,000 known archaeological sites. Local conservationists and the Hopi Tribe oppose the plan, arguing that it would reward the illegal trail builders and increase the risk of vandalism or looting.

 

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PUBLIC LANDS: Utah commissioner says ATV ride still on despite BLM threats

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
E&E PM: Tuesday, April 29, 2014

A Utah county commissioner still plans to lead an illegal all-terrain vehicle ride next month through a protected river canyon, in spite of threats yesterday by the Bureau of Land Management to seek criminal penalties against him and his followers.

San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman said he's also willing to be immobilized with a stun gun or shot in order to demonstrate against BLM's closure of Recapture Canyon.

"The ride is on more so than ever," Lyman said in an interview this afternoon, a day after BLM warned him in a letter that he could face civil and criminal penalties (Greenwire, April 29).

Lyman likened his resistance to BLM land restrictions to 14th-century Swiss folk hero William Tell's confrontation with the tyrannical Albrecht Gessler of Austria. According to legend, Gessler hung his hat from a pole in the village of Altdorf's central square and ordered townspeople to bow to it. Tell and his son refused.

"I'm not going to bow to the hat," Lyman said.

Lyman said he was perplexed that the letter he received from BLM yesterday, which was copied to U.S. attorney David Barlow, had fallen into a reporter's hands. He said BLM and the Department of Justice are "void of ethical behavior" and that their threats against him would likely spur more people to join his act of civil disobedience.

Lyman has been planning the May 10 ride through Recapture for months. It's meant to demonstrate the county's sovereignty over public lands and prompt BLM to move faster on the county's proposed off-highway vehicle trail through the canyon.

It comes weeks after BLM retreated from its roundup of hundreds of cows that have been illegally grazing on public lands in Nevada for decades amid threats of armed violence by militiamen and states' rights protesters who came to the defense of rancher Cliven Bundy.

Conservative politicians initially came to Bundy's defense but backpedaled late last week after the rancher's racist comments were published by The New York Times.

BLM still plans to resolve the Nevada conflict administratively and judicially, but its surrender in the Bundy dust-up was seen as potential encouragement to others who want to flout federal law, such as through Lyman's planned ATV ride.

Conservative Western politicians have long lobbied for greater state and local control of federal lands, a position that conservationists and many sportsmen strongly oppose.

Politicians are treading carefully in southeast Utah.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), whose 3rd District includes Recapture, has not commented on the planned ride. Lyman said he had spoken with Chaffetz about his plans and that while the congressman has not condoned the ride, he told Lyman to "be careful."

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said the delegation would defer to Chaffetz to lead on the issue. But he said he sympathizes with San Juan and that BLM has taken too long to resolve the matter.

San Juan Chairman Bruce Adams this afternoon said it was "not productive" for him to comment on Lyman's ride but noted that it had not been endorsed by the commission. "It's an action he feels strongly about and he wants to do on his own," he said.

BLM closed Recapture to motorized recreation in 2007 after two Utah men used picks, shovels and other tools to blaze an illegal 7-mile OHV trail through it, damaging ancient cooking structures, rock walls and other priceless artifacts. The agency's resource management plan in 2008 officially closed the area to OHVs for the foreseeable future while allowing 2,820 miles for motorized recreation elsewhere.

San Juan in 2012 requested BLM to authorize a 14-mile right of way through portions of the canyon, arguing that it could promote economic development in Blanding, about 3 miles west of the canyon, while reducing the threat of improvised trails (Greenwire, Feb. 4).

Environmental groups and the Hopi Tribe oppose the proposal, saying it would increase the threat of damage and vandalism to the historical sites.

Known by some as a "mini Mesa Verde," the canyon in southeast Utah contains an unusually dense collection of Anasazi and Pueblo sites dating back more than 2,000 years, including ceramic hearths and storage cisterns as well as cliff habitations, ceremonial kivas and ancient trash heaps -- evidence of a resident population.

BLM yesterday said it will not be able to complete its environmental assessment for San Juan's proposed right of way ahead of the May 10 ride.

"The proposed ride will very likely hinder and possibly delay our ability to complete this process," it said in its letter to Lyman.

 

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PUBLIC LANDS: BLM pressured to bring illegal ATV riders to justice

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Tuesday, May 13, 2014

When about 500 all-terrain vehicle riders splashed up a closed portion of southern Utah's Paria River in spring 2009, Bureau of Land Management officials stood by scribbling down their license plate numbers and photographing the law breakers.
But five years later, not a single participant in that ride has faced federal prosecution, a fact that angers conservationists to this day.
Environmentalists and former BLM officials are urging the agency to take a more aggressive posture against the roughly 50 who drove their ATVs through a closed portion of southeast Utah's Recapture Canyon last Saturday.
The ride organized by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman violated BLM's 2007 closure order to protect the canyon's Anasazi and Pueblo sites dating back more than 2,000 years. Protesters may have also violated federal law designed to protect the 14-mile canyon's historic ceramic hearths, storage cisterns, ceremonial kivas and other American Indian sites.
"We don't want to see a repeat of Paria," said Liz Thomas, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance in Moab.
The agency's response will be closely watched following BLM's decision last month to retreat from its roundup of several hundred cattle owned by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy that had been illegally grazing on public lands northeast of Las Vegas for decades. Bundy's supporters had brandished assault weapons and threatened armed conflict if BLM did not back down.
But the Bundy roundup and the Recapture ride could inspire more lawlessness on public lands if BLM does not bring violators to justice, Thomas said.
"They do want to nip it in the bud," Thomas said. "It could snowball not just in southern Utah but other Western states."
Former BLM Director Bob Abbey said the agency should exercise its authority to issue misdemeanor citations against those who broke the law at Recapture or refer evidence to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah.
"You have to pick and choose your battles, no doubt," Abbey said. "But BLM has an obligation to follow up."
BLM last Saturday sent two plainclothes law enforcement officers to document and record those who drove into the nonmotorized portion of Recapture. In the coming weeks, BLM plans to conduct a damage assessment of sites protected under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA).
"We will pursue all available redress and appropriate penalties through the legal system," said BLM Utah spokeswoman Megan Crandall. "We do intend to hold the folks who broke the law accountable."
ABC News reported that some of Bundy's children and militia supporters also took part in the protest in Recapture, and some ATV riders carried weapons. A BLM employee last week was harassed with a gun by two hooded men on Interstate 15 in Utah.
Prior to Saturday's ride, BLM Utah State Director Juan Palma said his highest priority would be the safety of the public and BLM employees. As a precaution, BLM closed its Monticello field office Friday at noon MDT and did not reopen it until yesterday at noon.
ABC reported that about 30 sheriff's deputies were present at the protest to keep the peace. San Juan County Sheriff Rick Eldredge did not respond to multiple calls from Greenwire yesterday.
Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said the agency would wait for BLM to submit evidence before it considers filing charges. While no federal charges were filed against those who rode in Paria in 2009, "each situation is different," she said of the Recapture ride.
The penalty for driving an ATV into a closed area on public lands carries a maximum $1,000 fine or a year in jail under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. For ARPA, first time offenders can be fined up to $20,000 and imprisoned for up to two years.
Yesterday, the environmental group Great Old Broads for Wilderness urged BLM and law enforcement officials to prosecute the ATV riders to the maximum extent.
Shelley Silbert, the group's executive director, said environmental activist Tim DeChristopher received a two-year prison sentence for peacefully disrupting a BLM oil and gas lease sale in 2008. In contrast, those who rode Recapture were brandishing weapons and could have damaged priceless American Indian sites, she said.
"If those who broke the law by riding armed into Recapture Canyon are not prosecuted to the full extent of the law, it will be a travesty of justice," Silbert said.
Rose Chilcoat of Broads called the protesters "strong-arm bullies at best and domestic terrorists at worst, especially in light of recent events in Nevada and Utah." Carrying weapons discredits protesters' claims to be nonviolent, she said.
But bringing federal charges is always controversial in rural southeastern Utah, where many resent federal oversight of public lands and support Utah's bid to "take back" the lands from the federal government.
Area elected officials still begrudge a federal judge's decision to levy $35,000 in fines for two Blanding, Utah, men who blazed an illegal ATV trail in Recapture in 2005 by cutting old-growth juniper trees; moving stones; and installing rock cribbing, drainage pipes and a wooden bridge.
Many still seethe from an FBI raid in Blanding, Utah, in 2009, about 3 miles from Recapture, that sought to disrupt a major black market for American Indian artifacts.
But Thomas of SUWA said local opposition to the Recapture trail closing ignores the fact that 4,000 miles of ATV trails remain available on public lands in San Juan.
American Indian officials said the Recapture ride was a sign of disrespect for their ancestors.
"We believe the [Bureau of Land Management] should be providing more law enforcement to protect and preserve the cultural and natural resources for which it is the nation's caretaker, and not providing more motorized access to areas containing cultural and natural resources that it has demonstrated that it is unable to protect," Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, the Hopi Tribe's preservation director, wrote in a May 1 letter to BLM, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
While the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office's Terry Morgarthe acknowledged the risks that a beefed up BLM law enforcement presence could provoke more conflict, "if BLM keeps acquiescing, it will make it worse, too, because [ATV enthusiasts] will keep upping the ante."

 

[DrMoab]

Wow. That article couldn't be any more biased.

 

[lobsterdmb]

Wow. That article couldn't be any more biased.

I totally agree, but I just try to post up the relevant media thats out there (good or bad)

 

[DrMoab]

Fwiw I'm seriously on the fence about this issue. When they did the protest ride up Pirea canyon I was all for it. This area is a little different though. Pirea was a designated right of way and also in a flood plain. There is no good reason to close that area. If this area has as much sensitive artifacts as they say it does than I can see the need to protect it.

 

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It gets even more interesting now.

PUBLIC LANDS: BLM won't cite trespassers in illegal ATV ride, as investigation continues

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
E&E PM: Friday, May 30, 2014

The Bureau of Land Management will not issue citations to the dozens who rode all-terrain vehicles into an off-limits area of Utah's Recapture Canyon, deferring instead to the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City to take further action.
BLM Utah is still completing its investigation into who violated the agency's 2007 closure order, which banned motorized vehicles in 1,871 acres of the canyon east of Blanding in order to protect Anasazi and Pueblo sites dating back more than 2,000 years.
It is also assessing whether those who participated in the May 10 protest ride damaged any of the canyon's ceramic hearths, storage cisterns, ceremonial kivas and other American Indian sites, which is a separate and potentially more severe federal offense.
"Once the effort is finished, the BLM will turn everything over to the U.S. Attorney's Office for potential further action," BLM Utah spokeswoman Megan Crandall said. "We have devoted substantial resources to conducting a thorough and fair investigation and are proceeding as expeditiously as possible."
Some conservationists had hoped BLM would use its authority to issue citations to those who violated the closure order, saying it would be a small but symbolic deterrent to other would-be lawbreakers.
BLM would not need approval from the Justice Department to do so.
The agency sent two plainclothes law enforcement officers to document and record those who drove into the nonmotorized part of Recapture, but they chose not to issue citations on-site to avoid conflict, Crandall said.
Roughly 50 people, some of them armed, led by San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman reportedly rode ATVs through the canyon to protest BLM's management of federal lands. Riders included followers and one son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose weeklong standoff with BLM in southern Nevada last month nearly ended in gunfire.
Some worry that BLM's decision to halt the roundup of Bundy's cattle and stand down during the Recapture ride could encourage others to violate laws on public lands.
When Utah BLM referred a case of ATV trespassing to the U.S. attorney in 2009 -- when roughly 500 riders splashed up the Paria River in a wilderness study area in southern Utah -- no federal charges were ever filed.
"It's important they not continue this pattern of backing off," said Lynell Schalk, a former BLM law enforcement special agent in Oregon who retired in 2001. "People get emboldened."
Schalk said U.S. attorneys have declined a greater percentage of cases in Utah -- where archaeological crimes are more common -- than in other parts of the West. She said that politics often are at play and that BLM may be relying on DOJ as a buffer.
But for U.S. attorneys in Utah, "there's not as much understanding of natural resources cases as we had here in Oregon, which is more pro-environment," Schalk said.
Crandall said it was unclear whether BLM would release its damage assessment to the public before the U.S. Attorney's Office concludes its involvement.
But BLM State Director Juan Palma earlier this month said the agency would aggressively pursue action.
"The BLM will pursue all available redress through the legal system to hold the lawbreakers accountable," he said.
The penalty for driving an ATV into a closed area on public lands is a maximum $1,000 fine or a year in jail under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. First-time offenders who violate the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 can be fined up to $20,000 and imprisoned up to two years.

 

[WB9YZU]

Interesting , but I can't see it going anywhere as it's a political football.
The group has been very open about their intent, and no serious effort was made by the BLM to prevent the ride.

If no "antiquities" were harmed ( and who can say the harm was done by "this" group) this will fade into the sunset.

As it should.

-Ron

 

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PUBLIC LANDS: U.S. charges 5 -- including Utah official -- in May ATV ride

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
E&E PM: Wednesday, September 17, 2014

The Justice Department today announced it has charged five Utah men with misdemeanors for their role in planning and carrying out an illegal all-terrain-vehicle ride through an archaeologically rich river canyon in southeast Utah in May.

The charges filed in federal court in Salt Lake City today include counts of conspiracy to operate off-highway vehicles on public lands closed to motorized use and operating off-highway vehicles on public lands where they are barred.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said the accused men -- including San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman -- face a potential penalty for each count of up to a year in jail and a fine of $100,000.

The charges mark a major turning point in an ongoing conflict over the Bureau of Land Management's decision to close Utah's Recapture Canyon in 2007 to motorized recreation in order to preserve archaeological history. The canyon, which is rich with Anasazi and Pueblo sites dating back more than 2,000 years, is currently open only to hikers and horseback riders.

Lyman, 50, made national headlines last spring by publicizing the ride and then leading roughly 50 people, some of them armed, through the canyon May 10 in protest of BLM's management.

BLM did not cite any of the participants that day but sent plainclothes officers to document the protest. The agency took a soft response, given that the protest occurred less than a month after BLM's nearly violent showdown in southern Nevada over its roundup of cows owned by Cliven Bundy.

But BLM and DOJ in the following months came under intense pressure from environmental groups to prosecute Lyman and his followers. Critic warned others may be inspired to also violate public land laws.

"We respect the fact that the citizens of this State have differing and deeply held views regarding the management and use of Recapture Canyon, and recognize that they have the right to express those opinions freely," acting U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen said in a statement. "Nevertheless, those rights must be exercised in a lawful manner and when individuals choose to violate the law, rather than engage in lawful protest, we will seek to hold those individuals accountable under the law."

BLM Director Neil Kornze in a statement added that the charges "underscore the importance of protecting culturally significant areas and holding accountable those who broke the law."

In addition to Lyman, the others charged were Monte Jerome Wells, 50, of Monticello; Jay Demar Redd, 40, of Santa Clara; Shane Morris Marian, 33, of Monticello; and Franklin Trent Holliday, 31, of Blanding.

Today's charges are not a finding of guilt. A summons will be issued to the five to appear in court Oct. 17 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Evelyn Furse.

The men from Feb. 27 to May 10, 2014, "conspired among themselves, with each other, and with others known and unknown to operate off-road vehicles through land restricted to off-road vehicles and administered by the BLM," DOJ said.

Lyman publicized the ride through an op-ed in the Deseret News and on Facebook.

 

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PUBLIC LANDS: Charges in Utah ATV ride spur debate over penalty -- and the broader application of justice

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Monday, September 22, 2014

When 27-year-old environmental activist Tim DeChristopher disrupted a Bureau of Land Management auction in Utah in late 2008 to block the sale of public lands for oil and gas drilling, he was sentenced to two years in prison and assessed a $10,000 fine.
Now environmental activists, a former BLM official and a prominent Utah newspaper are calling for similar punishment for five men accused of planning and carrying out an illegal all-terrain vehicle ride through Recapture Canyon in southeast Utah to protest BLM's decision to close it to motorized recreation.
"There needs to be a consistent, steady hand" of justice, said Pat Shea, BLM director during the Clinton administration, who was DeChristopher's defense attorney in the BLM leasing case.
Federal prosecutors last week charged San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman, 50, and four other Utah men in federal court in Salt Lake City last week on two counts: conspiring to operate off-road vehicles on federal lands and driving those vehicles in Recapture on May 10 (E&ENews PM, Sept. 17).
Each of the misdemeanor counts carries a maximum of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City.
Lyman, who publicized the ride in the Deseret News and on Facebook, said last spring that he wanted to protest an overbearing BLM that had unjustly dithered on local proposals to reopen the riverine canyon to motorized recreation.
BLM closed the canyon in 2007 after two Utah men used picks, shovels and other tools to blaze an illegal 7-mile off-highway-vehicle trail through it, damaging ancient Anasazi and Pueblo ruins. The agency said there are 2,800 miles of other trails open to OHVs in southeast Utah.
For many conservationists, news of the charges against Lyman last Wednesday was cathartic.
Critics had hounded BLM for backing down in April in its roundup of cows owned by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. They had also criticized the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City for failing to bring charges after hundreds of protesters in 2009 rode ATVs up Paria Canyon in a wilderness study area in southern Utah, in defiance of BLM's closure.
"It was a rewarding piece of news," said Shea.
Debate has shifted to the proper punishment if the men are convicted.
The accused will appear Oct. 17 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Evelyn Furse to enter their pleas.
If they are convicted, both defendants and prosecutors will suggest appropriate penalties to the court and a judge will make final call, said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for Utah acting U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen.
Lyman did not respond to a call and email. Neither he nor the other defendants have identified attorneys to defend them in the case.
In a Facebook post May 10 that has since been edited, Lyman insists he stopped his ride at the end of a county maintenance road, where others continued on foot or horseback.
Other elected officials in southern and eastern Utah declined to comment or did not return emails or phone calls.
Conservationists who back BLM's closure of Recapture say a firm penalty for Lyman and his followers would send a signal to other would-be lawbreakers.
"The penalty has to deter people," Shea said, "not just defendants, but others who may be of similar minds."
Shea said Lyman should face a combination of a fine and some incarceration or community service, such as work helping to restore a national monument in Utah.
Lyman's offense differs from DeChristopher's in key respects, Shea said.
In contrast with DeChristopher, who acknowledged that he was breaking the law from the get-go, Lyman continues to proclaim his innocence, said Shea.
Rose Chilcoat, associate director for Durango, Colo.-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness, said Lyman's alleged offense, unlike DeChristopher's, was also premeditated and carried the real risk of damaging archaeological and ecological resources, whereas DeChristopher's harm was mainly economic. She said Recapture was "pretty torn up" in the days after the May 10 ride.
"If [DeChristopher] could spend two years in a federal prison, it seems like right now what we're seeing is not equitable," Chilcoat said. "We're hopeful this is the beginning in a series of charges."
Notably, no individuals have been charged with violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. A first-time felony offense under ARPA carries a $20,000 fine and two years in prison. BLM in spring said it planned to conduct an archaeological damage assessment, but no reports have been released to the public.
"We are hopeful that further investigation will allow the U.S. attorney to bring actions against all those that [flouted] BLM's order," said Liz Thomas, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "In passing ARPA, Congress recognized the need to provide more effective law enforcement to protect the nation's archaeological resources."
The U.S. Attorney's Office said last week that "investigation in the case is ongoing," though it did not mention potential ARPA charges. About 50 people are reported to have ridden through Recapture last May, though it's unclear how many entered the closed area.
One individual who rode Recapture last May said the potential punishment does not fit the crime. Last week's charges were politically driven at the behest of environmental groups, the protester said.
"This is a road that serves the function of the county of San Juan," said the protester, who asked not to be named for fear of being implicated in the investigation. "Having a heavy hand and crushing and oppressing the people is just not the America I believe in."
The Salt Lake Tribune in an editorial on Thursday said Lyman and the other men deserve some time in jail, but it said such a sentence is probably unlikely.
"The fact that Lyman and company stand almost no chance of facing, say, the 21 months in federal prison that were meted out to environmental activist Tim DeChristopher stands as a monument to the unfairness of federal law enforcement," the paper wrote.
While jail time could deter future Recapture rides, it could also make Lyman and his fellow riders into martyrs in a state already deeply distrustful of the federal government.
Past federal raids in 1986 and 2009 in Blanding, Utah -- just a few miles west of Recapture -- helped inspire the May 10 ride.
Lyman last spring said the ride was initially planned for May 8 to commemorate the day of the 1986 federal raids, in which agents confiscated what were believed to be illegally looted American Indian artifacts.
The 2009 raid -- in which BLM and FBI agents arrested about two dozen people in hopes of disrupting what they believed to be a major black market for American Indian artifacts -- lives in infamy in Blanding. James Redd, a Blanding physician and respected community leader who was among those arrested, later committed suicide.
Redd's son, Jay Demar Redd, 40, who was among the five charged last week for riding Recapture, blamed his father's death on federal officers' aggressive interrogation, according to the Tribune. Jay Redd invoked his father in a speech to a Blanding crowd before the May 10 ride.
Federal prosecutors in their charges Wednesday said Redd's speech was "instructing and encouraging the group regarding the proposed ATV ride."
Lyman won't belong to the "great American tradition of civil disobedience" unless at least a few people spend time in jail, the Tribune editorial board said. "They would have to become real martyrs, not just taunters, in the hope that they would gain sympathy and supporters when more people see such a stark example of what they believe to be the feds' injustice," it wrote.
Lyman insists BLM is breaking the law by keeping Recapture indefinitely closed to motorized recreation, in spite of pleas from local residents to negotiate a suitable path through the canyon.
"When offences become the program of official government agencies, honest people are mandated by their morals, individually and communally, to seek corrective remedies," Lyman wrote in an Aug. 15 essay on civil disobedience that was published by the Libertas Institute, a conservative Utah think tank. "Short-term peace must, on occasion, be disrupted in order to protect the elements of sustained peace."
Notable leaders in civil disobedience say jail time can galvanize a movement.
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in a 1960 speech to students in Durham, N.C., said it might "take this willingness to stay in jail to arouse the dozing conscience of our nation."
At his sentencing hearing in late July 2011, DeChristopher said prison time would not deter him or others from flouting federal laws in the name of justice.
"The people who are committed to fighting for a livable future will not be discouraged or intimidated by anything that happens here today," he said of the prison sentence federal prosecutors were seeking. "The reality is not that I lack respect for the law; it is that I have a greater respect for justice."