Wrangling over property rights in Canyonlands

Conservationists can't fight county's claim, lawyers say

Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 30, 2006 at midnight

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A Utah county's claim to property rights within Canyonlands National Park cannot be challenged by conservationists, lawyers for the county and the park service argued this week before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

This particular fight is over San Juan County's 2004 claim to about 40 miles of the Salt Creek streambed - which has been used as a rugged road to reach the park's Angel Arch.

But it could set a precedent for hundreds of other road and property-rights claims within national parks, monuments and refuges throughout the West. Among those claims is one by Colorado's Moffat County in Dinosaur National Monument.

Those challenges are pending in other courts, but the appeals court will decide whether conservation groups can intervene in the San Juan County claim case.

Tom Welch, attorney for San Juan County, said that the county's claim is a property-rights issue and that the conservation groups have no legal standing.

San Juan County claimed the route the same week that the park banned vehicles on a 10.7-mile segment above Peekaboo Springs to protect the area.

The county and the state of Utah want to reopen the 10.7-mile stretch and smooth the uneven rocky portions of the entire route to support tourism, Welch said.

Jim Angell, of Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm representing several conservation groups, said that the road claim is a matter of public interest because the park service has historically failed to protect the area.

The park closed the 10.7-mile section and created a permit system that allowed only 10 vehicles a day on the streambed below Peekaboo Springs in 2004 only after conservation groups sued, Angell said.

Until the 2004 closing and permit system, up to 1,000 off-highway vehicles used the winding, rocky route each week to reach archaeological sites and Angel Arch, he said.

"The federal government didn't balance use and conservation," Angell said. "We are here to establish a legally protected interest in case the county wins the road claim."

The county's road claim seeks to change federal management of a national park by opening the route to vehicles above Peekaboo Springs, he said.

San Juan County and the state of Utah also have asked to increase the width of the route and inquired about allowing construction, signaling an intent to damage the area further, he said.

Arron Avila, the federal attorney representing the park service, said that the federal government will protect the park without conservation groups intervening.

Angell said the park service failed to protect the area and that intervention by outside groups was necessary to preserve its archaeological sites and other natural resources.

"We fought to have this road closed, and there is nothing to say we have to stay on the sidelines while all our hard work to protect the park is threatened," Angell said.

Last year, three members of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard the arguments and voted 2-to-1 to let the conservation groups intervene.

San Juan County, the state of Utah and the federal government asked that all 13 appeals court justices hear the case.

Avila declined to discuss the case. After the hearing, Welch said that the county does not intend to widen the road within the park, and won't challenge the current permit system.

"The goal is to get back to Angel Arch again. We are fine with the permit system," Welch said. "We don't want to widen the road, just improve the quality."

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