Opinion ID: 168143
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Box Elder County

Text: 21 Pursuant to FLPMA, the BLM has adopted RMPs for its Utah lands. The Box Elder RMP was adopted in 1986 and designates the vast majority of land as open to ORV use. In 1999, however, the BLM published a Notice of Closure of Public Lands (1999 Box Elder Order), which closed land that had been previously designated as open. The closure was ordered seasonally, from January through April, and the authority for the closure was listed as 43 C.F.R. §§ 8341.2 and 8364.1. See 64 Fed.Reg. 22639-02. The order reads as follows: 22 Notice is hereby given that effective immediately, the public lands within Broad Hollow Unit, Kilgore Basin Unit, Meadows Unit . . . are seasonally closed from January 1 to April 30 to all motorized vehicle use. The purpose of this closure is to protect wildlife, including critical deer and sage grouse habitat. Exemptions to this closure will apply to administrative personnel of the Bureau of Land Management, BLM authorized permittees and Law Enforcement Personnel. Other exemptions to this closure order may be made on a case by case basis by the authorized officer. This seasonal closure will remain in effect until further notice. 23 . . . . 24 The authority for this closure is 43 C.F.R. § 8341.2 and 43 C.F.R. § 8364.1. 25 Id. 26 In 2000, the BLM published another closure order (2000 Box Elder Order), which temporarily closed selected lands to ORV use regardless of the season. See 65 Fed.Reg. 16410-01. Specifically, the order stated: 27 Notice is hereby given that effective immediately, selected public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Salt Lake Field Office, within western Box Elder County are closed to off road vehicle (ORV) (also commonly referred to as off highway vehicle—OHV) use on an interim emergency basis. This action will allow BLM to address concerns related to unrestricted cross country travel in the specific places where we now have resource damage. The purpose of this closure is to protect wildlife, wildlife habitat, rangeland resources, soil, vegetation, cultural resources, historical resources, and other resources from ongoing and imminent adverse impacts from ORV use. . . . This emergency closure will remain in effect until BLM completes a land use plan amendment for OHV management. 28 Id. Like the 1999 Box Elder Order, the 2000 Box Elder Order cited 43 C.F.R. §§ 8341.2 and 8364.1 as authorizing the closure. 29 In 2003, after USA-ALL filed this action, the BLM revoked both the 1999 and 2000 Box Elder Orders and simultaneously issued a new order. That order (2003 Box Elder Order) stated that in five areas of the county ORVs may only be used on designated routes. The remaining public lands were to be managed according to the 1986 Box Elder RMP. The 2003 Box Elder Order provided: 30 Notice is hereby given that effective immediately, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Salt Lake Field Office, revokes the seasonal Notice of Closure of Public Lands published on April 27, 1999 (64 FR 22639 (1999)) and the Notice of Closure of Public Lands published on March 28, 2000 (65 FR 16410 (2000)). Notice is hereby given that effective immediately, ORV use in the following five areas of Box Elder County is limited to designated routes: Devils Playground (9838 acres), Grouse Creek Mountains (52493 acres), Hogup Mountains (51698 acres), Pilot Mountains (62654 acres), and Wildcat Hills (12640 acres). The remaining public lands in Box Elder County will be managed according to the Box Elder Resource Management Plan. 31 68 Fed.Reg. 20167-02. 32 Citing only 43 C.F.R. § 8341.2 as the authority for the closure order, the 2003 Box Elder Order further provided that [t]his limitation will remain in effect until the considerable adverse effects giving rise to this limitation are eliminated and measures are implemented to prevent recurrence of these adverse effects. Id.