Q1 2026 REVIEW
Setting the Stage
After a strong 2025 for the grand reopening of our public lands, your support has helped set the stage for 2026. While the year started off with the one of largest OHV closures in American history, we've stayed on offense and are shifting the fight in our favor. Read through this review to see what we've accomplished this first quarter and how we're setting the stage for the rest of the year.
The West Mojave Closure
2,200 OHV MILES. GONE.
In February, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered the BLM to close 2,200 miles of off-road trails in California's Western Mojave Desert, locking up over 1 million acres overnight. Three months later, the fight is shifting. Here is what your support made possible.
This is the culmination of 20 years of pressure from the Center for Biological Diversity. The precedent the court created will not stop at California's borders.
West Mojave Network: What Was Taken
The red segment represents the 2,200 miles lost under the February 2026 ruling.
BRC's WEMO RESPONSE
We Didn't Wait.
The Western Mojave ruling was allegedly made to protect desert tortoise habitat, but it relied on a vague regulation we have been fighting to rescind for years. It is one of the worst closures we have seen in the nearly forty years of BRC's existence.
We are taking action on every front available to us.
1
BRC FILED TO INTERVENE
BRC filed a formal Motion to Intervene in the federal lawsuit that triggered these closures. The OHV community was not represented in this case. The plaintiffs, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, pushed for the closures. The federal defendants, BLM and the Department of the Interior, rarely advocate aggressively for recreation. That left no one in the courtroom fighting for riders, families, or the small desert communities that depend on OHV access. So we stepped in.
2
MOBILIZED THOUSANDS TO PRESSURE DOJ
When the ruling came down, we asked you to contact the Department of Justice and demand an appeal. Thousands of you did. Right before the deadline, the DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division filed a formal Notice of Appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of BLM, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of the Interior, and Secretary Burgum.
The appeal challenges the January 2026 closure order and the October 2024 summary judgment ruling on minimization criteria that set the closures in motion. Without this appeal, the closures would have stood unchallenged by the federal government.
3
MOBILIZED THOUSANDS TO PRESSURE CONGRESS
We also asked you to contact your representatives and urge them to review and rescind the minimization criteria, the regulatory framework that was used to justify these closures. On April 20, Rep. Celeste Maloy pressed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum during a House Appropriations hearing on expanding public land access and reviewing minimization criteria. Burgum agreed to work with her office to review the regulation and access. That exchange happened because the pressure was there.
This is not a blanket commitment to rescind the minimization criteria, yet. But it is a door opening at the highest levels of the Department of the Interior, and it would not have opened without sustained pressure from the recreation community.
4
Advancing Outdoor Americans with Disabilities Act
The Outdoor Americans with Disabilities Act would have prevented this closure order entirely. Earlier this year OADA pased a key vote and is moving forward in the Senate. The bill now has real momentum in Congress.
To help get this legislation past the finish line, BRC is assembling a delegation of physically disabled off-roaders to travel to Washington, D.C. and meet face-to-face with members of Congress, and they will carry a single message: for many disabled Americans, motorized access to public land is the only access they will ever have.
To help raise money for the delegation we've launched a campaign with 35% bonus entries into our SxS sweepstakes. It will also help raise money for Brent Oliver, an incomplete quadriplegic who's attempting to set a record to raise awareness of his foundation’s accessibility work and meaningful access to public lands.
Three months ago, this closure was headed toward becoming permanent with no opposition. Today, it is being challenged in court, scrutinized by Congress, and reviewed by the administration. This all happened because you showed up.
If you haven't already, be sure to check out our WEMO Deep Dive Report here.
ACTIVE LEGAL FRONT
Our Attorneys Are in the Fight
Protecting public land access in the courts is our top priority. We are growing our caseload and expanding our capacity. No large retainers. No billable hours. Instead, we have a dedicated in-house legal team that fights these cases because they love to ride and because donors like you make it possible.
While all of our legal actions and work cannot be shared, below are our current public actions:
NEW
FILED TO INTERVENE IN WEMO
In April we filed a Motion for Leave to Intervene in the federal lawsuit that triggered sweeping closures across the West Mojave OHV route network. This is a direct legal action to get a seat at the table and protect your access.
NEW
FILED APPEAL IN IDAHO’S SILVER VALLEY
In April we filed a formal appeal and a petition to stay enforcement, arguing the BLM bypassed federal law and set a dangerous precedent for access nationwide through a remapping project in Silver Valley Idaho that would affect access to the Rollercoaster trail.
NEW
LEGAL ACTION IN CLARKSTON; UTAH / IDAHO BORDER
Partnering with a local access group to challenge illegal blockades cutting off public land access to high-value recreation opportunities.
NEW
LEGAL ACTION IN PRAIRIE CITY SVRA, California
Partnering with California OHV groups to fight a proposed industrial solar project sited adjacent to one of California's most-visited OHV parks.
ONGOING
MOAB Travel Management Plan
Partnering with Texas Public Policy Foundation to challenge the closures of 317 miles of spectacular backcountry roads and campsites in the Labyrinth Rims/Gemini Bridges area.
ONGOING
SAN RAFAEL SWELL
Challenging the closure of 665 miles of routes closed across 1.15 million acres, affecting single track riders, campers, and off-roaders.
ONGOING
HENRY MOUNTAINS
Challenging the closure of 612 miles of roads and trails closed across 1.45 million acres in a last-minute decision signed by a D.C. political appointee, not local land managers.
ONGOING
CHUCKWALLA NATIONAL MONUMENT
Partnering with Texas Public Policy Foundation and a local mining claim owner to challenge the designation of 624,000 acres of California desert which were locked up in a lame duck monument land grab, threatening dispersed camping, off-roading, and vehicle-based access.
ONGOING
BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT
Challenging unlawful monument expansions that pulled millions of acres off the table for recreation.
ONGOING
GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE National Monument
Challenging unlawful monument expansions that pulled millions of acres off the table for recreation.
Your donations pay for the brief that gets filed before tight deadlines, the discovery and analysis of extensive administrative records, and the federal hearing where our attorneys force motorized access back onto the table. Most of that work won’t make a press release, but it is the difference between a trail you can ride next year and one that gets shut down forever without a fight.
Every lawsuit we file is made possible by your generous support.
No Retainers. No Billable Hours.
JOHNSON VALLEY UPDATE
WE SPOKE UP. THEY LISTENEND.
When the Marine Corps proposed a plan that could have jeopardized recreation within Johnson Valley’s Shared Use Area, BRC mobilized. Over 30,000 public comments poured in — and the result changed the rules in favor of riders:
Recreation Impacts Recognized
Local OHV economic contributions noted in the final plan.
1,500 ft.
Minimum Altitude Floor
Active when the Shared Use Area is open to the public.
60/40
Annual Activation Caps
R-2509 and JV MOA: 60 days. CAX and Turtle Low MOA: 40 days.
KOH
King of the Hammers Protected
Event organizers have a seat at the table.
Changing the Ground Rules
Your Voice on Capitol Hill
Our executive and policy directors spent years working in Congress. That experience is now working directly for you, bringing your voice to the halls of Congress and state capitols.
- Two bills driven by BRC are advancing through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — the strongest motorized recreation protections ever introduced.
- Colorado River Abundance Act, a bill drafted by BRC that preserves the hydrologic infrastructure of Lake Powell and Lake Mead for recreation users, is gaining traction in local and federal governments and garnering national media attention.
- Multiple Congressional offices now seek BRC’s input on recreation access solutions nationwide.
This is how long-term protections for public access are built. This is how we rig the system to support recreation access to our public lands and waters.
KEEP US ON OFFENSE THROUGHOUT 2026
Behind the Headlines
Stopping Closures Before They Happen
Our team of five full-time staff members is currently engaged in more federal land-use planning processes than all other national OHV organizations combined.
Administrative planning processes are where many trail closures and restrictions begin.
We monitor hundreds of federal land
management decisions across the country, submit detailed legal and technical comments, and work directly with agencies to ensure
that motorized recreation remains part of the conversation.
Most of this work never makes headlines. But it is often where access is won... or lost.
BRC Executive Director, Ben Burr, with Brooke Rollins, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (USDA)
BUILT FOR THE LONG GAME
Protecting recreation access today requires more than good intentions. It requires legal expertise, policy knowledge, strong partnerships, and full-time professionals working every day to defend your access.
BlueRibbon Coalition is built to operate at that level. We can't do it alone.
Thirty-eight years is a long time to be in this fight. The Mojave closure is serious. The precedent it creates is even more serious. So is our response. We have the legal team, the legislative relationships, and the advocacy infrastructure to fight back.
What we need is your continued support to keep all of it running. Your donation keeps our attorneys in court, our staff in federal hearings, and our voice in the halls of Congress. It keeps us hunting for the next Johnson Valley win while we fight the next Mojave battle.
Public lands should remain open for you, your family, and the next generation of riders. We will never stop fighting for them. Because we belong here.
Together, we can continue protecting the places we all love to ride.
DONATE & ENTER TO WIN
Keep us on Offense in 2026 with 35% Bonus Entries into our Sweepstakes
CUSTOM-BUILT POLARIS RZR PRO S4 + Trailer + $10,000 CASH
It's Time For a New Playbook.
BlueRibbon Coalition isn't standing idly by. We're fighting to change the rules that make cooperating in the current system a losing endeavor. Join us.