Moffat County's Board of County Commissioners recently approved a resolution to claim more than 2,000 miles of routes in northwest Colorado, including 53 miles of potential roadway within the Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge.
For decades, development-minded politicians have pressured Denali National Park to build nerw roads into the park and wilderness areas. The local government is studying options for a northerly highway or railroad into the park.
In 2003, the Moffat County Board of County Commissioners claimed more than 2,000 miles of routes in northwest Colorado, including 240 miles of claimed "constructed highways" within the national monument.
A 48-acre subdivision in Catron County surrounded by the Gila National Forest is now home to a road controversy that typifies the difficulties increasingly posed to private landowners by RS2477 rights-of-way claims. In this case, the controversy centers on a dirt track known as the Dry Blue Road.
In 1995, a segment of South Canyon Road near the Jarbridge Wilderness Area was washed out in a storm. The Elko County Commissioners wanted the road reopened, but in September 1997 the Forest Service decided to leave the road closed pending further study of its environmental impact.
Visitors are attracted to Mojave National Preserve by its remoteness and wilderness quality. Unfortunately, this wilderness is under threat. San Bernardino County, on behalf of miners, all-terrain-vehicle users, and other special interests, claims there are more than 2,500 miles of "highways" within the Preserve.
In 1997, BLM employees began noticing evidence of increased vehicle traffic at Robledo, even in the most rugged canyons. The agency concluded that much of the damage was caused by unauthorized off-highway vehicle rallies that involved more than 50 vehicles.
In 1999 - more than 15 years after the Siskiyou Wilderness was designated - a representative of the Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC), an industry-funded lobbying group for motorized recreation, sent a letter to the Six Rivers National Forest claiming two trails within the wilderness as constructed highways under RS 2477. They wish to open these trails to motorized vehicles, making the wilderness area accessible to all-terrain vehicles.
RS 2477 claims threaten the scenic beauty and biological diversity of Wrangell-St. Elias. There are currently only 100 miles of road in the park. The State of Alaska has identified 94 possible routes totaling 1,612 miles of potential rights-of-way in Wrangell-St. Elias.
