BlueRibbon Coalition’s Quarterly Update

2025 Q3 REVIEW

After a huge Q2, we just wrapped up another three big months in the Grand Reopening of our public lands. We want you to see what your support has helped make possible over the last quarter.

While we’ve continued to make big strides, the fight for our public lands continue. With our recent wins, anti-access organizations— who can outspend us— are gearing up and digging in on both advocacy and legal fronts. Your continued support is vital to keep us in fight.

Major Step Forward in our Fight to Save Moab

It has now been almost two years since we filed the legal challenge to the trail closures in Moab. Because of your support, we were able to commit to this fight for as long as it would take, and on September 24 we received the news that the Bureau of Land Management is proposing to reassess a substantial portion of the trails that were closed. We are now mobilizing our community to add their voice during the BLM comment period. This is a major step forward in our legal fight.

But we fully expect the anti-access groups to challenge any effort to reopen our trails. We have always been in this for the long term, and we’re not giving up now. Your sustaining support will keep us in this fight.

With the momentum shifting to our favor, we are confident we will continue to put donations to good use.

Donate Today to Support the Grand Reopening of our Trails

A Sweepstakes to Save Moab Trails

One of the trails that the BLM will assess to reopen is the famed dirt bike trail Dead Cow Loop. We’ve teamed up with Rocky Mountain ATV/MC for a sweepstakes to raise awareness and funds needed to protect our off-road trails. One lucky winner will win a 2025 GasGas EX 300 dirt bike with custom upgrades and design inspired by Dead Cow Loop. In addition, the winner will be able to take their new dirt bike on an all-expense-paid VIP trip to Moab, hopefully to be one of the first to ride Dead Cow Loop!

For a limited time, click the link below to earn 25% bonus entries to this sweepstakes.

CLAIM 25% BONUS ENTRIES

They Took Half of Johnson Valley—Now They Want the Skies Too

A Note from Shannon Welch, Vice President, BlueRibbon Coalition

When I first stood in Johnson Valley years ago, I was blown away. The vast desert stretching to the horizon and the ever-changing terrtain that ensures two trips are ever the same — it was unlike anything else. This place is more than dirt and rock. It’s freedom, friendship, and the heartbeat of our off-roading culture.

That’s why my heart sank when I heard the news: the military is back with a new proposal that could strangle Johnson Valley from above. They want to take control of the airspace—yes, the very skies we depend on for everything from medevac helicopters to aerial filming. If they succeed, the impacts could be devastating.

We already gave half of Johnson Valley to the Marines years ago in a hard-fought compromise. Now they’re trying to take the rest by controlling the air. And if they can get away with it here, other OHV areas could be at risk.

That’s why we’ve already sprung into action. BlueRibbon Coalition has pulled together allies from across the off-road community—clubs, event organizers, local businesses, local government officials and thousands of passionate individuals just like you. Together, we are raising one strong, united voice to tell the Marines: we want a workable solution, but it must include the OHV community at the table.

We aren’t opposed to national defense. We respect and support our service members. But protecting America also means protecting the places where Americans gather, recreate, and build community. Johnson Valley is too important to lose, and we know there’s a better path forward than the proposed permanent airspace restrictions..

To keep this fight strong, we need your help. Every meeting and every action alert takes resources—and right now, we’re up against one of the most powerful institutions in the country. If we stand together, our voices can’t be ignored.

Will you make a gift today to ensure that Johnson Valley—and places like it across the country—remain open for future generations of off-roaders?

Donate Now to Save the Hammers

With gratitude,

Shannon Welch
Vice President, BlueRibbon Coalition

P.S. We’re seeing proposals like this move on an accelerated timetable. That’s why we need to act now—before the Marines lock down Johnson Valley’s skies and set a dangerous precedent for every OHV area in the country.

Update on our Legal Fights

This year, just days before leaving office, President Biden rushed through the designation of the Chuckwalla National Monument—locking up more than 624,000 acres of desert in Southern California. This move wasn’t about balanced management. It was about restricting access, cutting off mining rights, and shutting down the trails that off-roaders have enjoyed for generations. Anti-access groups bragged that this monument completed the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor, which includes 18 million acres of land that has been locked up – mostly through the abuse of the Antiquities Act.

This abuse of power to lock up our lands needs to come to an end.

That’s why BRC joined with the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a local mining claim owner to challenge this monument in federal court. And now Earth Justice, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, and a group of the largest anti-access groups in the nation have lined up against us. These are organizations with massive budgets, deep political connections, and an agenda to close as much public land as possible.

They may have money and influence, but we have something stronger: the passion and commitment of a grassroots community that refuses to be shut out. With your support, we plan to continue fighting against Antiquities Act land grabs — all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

While we have received the proposal to reopen many of our trails in Moab, we are also challenging the closure of 1,200 more miles of trails in the San Rafael Swell and the Henry Mountains. In September the State of Utah also filed a similar challenge to the closures in the San Rafael Swell, which strengthens our case.

In addition to these formal legal challenges our legal team has been busy drafting regulatory reform initiatives that were publicly requested by the current Administration in Washington. These include rescinding additional regulations that have been used to justify road closures, reforming travel planning rules, rescinding the conservation leasing scheme, and reforming volunteer and event special use permits.

We have a seat at these tables because of you and your support. We have been meeting with officials in the highest ranks of our land management agencies and have additional plans to visit Washington D.C. this fall. We are also laying the groundwork for several new lawsuits.

We are seeing phenomenal success, but we can only continue this important work with your continued support.

We thank you for your consideration and continued support.

SUPPORT OUR LAWSUITS BY DONATING TODAY

Codifying Outdoor Recreation & “Off-Roading” into Law

In July, The White House announced that President Trump had signed a new Executive Order to establish a Make America Beautiful Again commission. The stated goal of the commission is to “prioritize conserving our great American National Parks & Outdoor Recreation Areas.” Some of the orders include:

Expand access to public lands and waters for recreation, hunting, and fishing;
Cut bureaucratic delays that hinder effective environmental management;
Promote responsible stewardship of natural resources while driving economic growth;
Develop policies to expand access to public lands, national parks, national forests, and wildlife refuges while promoting a wide range of outdoor recreation opportunities like hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, boating, off-roading, and wildlife viewing.

While much of this remains to be seen on how it’s implemented— and rest assured we will be monitoring it closely— the DOI is starting to make good on the order by involving public feedback on CFR‘s, National Park Services, and reassessements of closed off-road trails.

Codifying “off-roading” into the Executive Order should not be taken lightly. This is the first time “off-roading” has been specifically mentioned in a national order. Make no mistake about it: this is because of our collective voices and the noise we have been making. Off-roading & Johnson Valley were even directly addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson on the House Floor in September.

While we appreciate the Executive Order, EO’s can be easily reversed on subsequent presidencies. Thus, now is the time to push hard for meaningful and long-lasting reforms that ensure motorized-recreation is a considered and protected form of recreation on our public lands.

Tax-Deductible Donation To Ensure Reforms

Now is not the time to take our feet off the gas. Your continued support allows us to keep pushing for regulatory changes and challenges.

Keep Our Feet On the Gas By Donating Today