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A Civil War era law known as R.S. 2477 -- repealed in 1976 -- is being invoked by states, counties, and off-road vehicle groups in a brazen attempt to turn old hiking trails and cow paths into public highways across wilderness areas and national parks. So far, many attempts to use R.S. 2477 in the southwestern United States have been thwarted by litigation filed by Earthjustice on behalf of a broad coalition of conservation groups. For example, on September 16, 2004, the State of Utah withdrew its first claim for a so-called R.S. 2477 road under a Bush administration rule designed to make it easier for the federal government to "disclaim" (or surrender) public property rights belonging to all Americans. The conservation groups that successfully challenged the claim assert that the withdrawal serves as evidence that the administration's new "disclaimer" process is intrinsically flawed and that Utah is pushing bogus claims.

Ted Zukoski of Earthjustice noted that the State's support of an R.S. 2477 claim by Utah's San Juan County in Canyonlands National Park is indicative of its abuse of this Civil War era statute. The county is claiming that the Salt Creek streambed is a R.S. 2477 road. However, the Salt Creek area is known as the park's treasure trove of archeological artifacts.

"The lawsuit at Canyonlands demonstrates that R.S. 2477 is a tremendous threat to the West's crown jewels, such as its national parks, national wildlife refuges, and other wild areas," said Zukoski. "If these places are to be protected for future generations, we need to close the R.S. 2477 loophole." Read more about Utah's failed claim.

On a related note, in April of 2004, conservation groups represented by Earthjustice filed a suit challenging a settlement between the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the state of Utah that would wipe out the process the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has used for decades to both identify which of its lands qualify for wilderness designation and to protect these areas as "wilderness study areas" until Congress decides whether to formally designate them as wilderness. The settlement also removed development protections from millions of acres of pristine, wilderness-eligible BLM lands.

From the basin and range country of Nevada, to the forestlands and deserts of California, to the wild canyon country of Colorado, many of America's most wild and undeveloped areas can, under the settlement, be managed for every conceivable purpose-mining, logging, off-road vehicle playgrounds... every purpose but one: preservation for wilderness designation.