In 2023 BlueRibbon Coalition filed an administrative appeal of the complete closure of an area called Massacre Rocks in eastern Idaho. As part of our appeal we included this history from our organization:
BlueRibbon Coalition was founded in 1987 by Clark Collins, who passed away after a fight with cancer in December 2019. According to an article announcing his passing in the Idaho State Journal, “Clark’s son, Local real estate agent Robert Collins, recalls making regular trips to public land in the desert near Massacre Rocks State Park to ride dirt bikes with his father growing up. When the Bureau of Reclamation closed public access to the land, Robert said his father participated in several meetings lobbying to restore access, but to no avail.”
It was this loss of access to recreation experiences in the Massacre Rocks area that spurred Clark Collins to build BRC to the organization that it is today. The story of a man riding his dirt bike with his family on the trails of Massacre Rocks is the creation story of our organization that was memorialized in the press upon the passing of our founder.
In this appeal, the Interior Board of Land Appeals partially sided with us and partially sided with the BLM. This remains a case with several unanswered legal questions where we have active legal standing. Shortly after the closure at Massacre Rocks was announced, the Labyrinth Rims/Gemini Bridges plan in Moab was released, which closed popular single track routes such as Dead Cow Loop, 10-Mile Wash, and the Tubes. We are still litigating those closures in District Court in Salt Lake City.
During the spring of 2024 we worked closely with dirt bike and racing organizations in southwestern Idaho to fight for a better plan in the Grandview area, which contains hundreds of miles of exceptional and beloved single track trails.
Currently, we are awaiting the BLM’s final decision on the San Rafael Swell plan. This plan could affect Five Miles of Hell, additional racing routes and popular routes around Temple Mountain. If they release this plan during the final days of the current administration, we are worried that it will contain significant levels of closures – like the Moab plan did.
While we are prepared to go the distance to fight for all of this single track, we have also seen progress made in the effort to open public lands to new single track users. The National Park Service announced in recent weeks that they would allow superintendents of each park to analyze and allow e-bikes on any trails used by other bikes. The BRC community commented in favor of these plans. Forests in Tahoe and the Tetons are analyzing opening trails to e-bikes. And this fall, the Moab BLM field office began the process to analyze expanding e-bike use.
We support expanding e-bike use, but we are always careful to make clear that we don’t want to see dirt bike trails converted to mountain bike trails, which is something that happens all too frequently. There is enough public land for both user groups to have world class trail systems, and public lands should be managed for the benefit of all users.
Because we have significant work ahead to reopen, maintain, and develop new single track trails we’ve been working with Rocky Mountain ATV/MC to show some love back to our single track users who have been grinding along with us in these fights.
To show our appreciation for supporting us in these fights, and to encourage the additional support we will need to stay active in these fights we are introducing the Public Lands Grand Reopening Sweepstakes!
Win One of These Custom Dirt Bikes: Support the Grand Reopening of Our Public Lands!
