Important Meeting: Tooele County to Close Roads in Ophir Mountains

Dear BRC Action Alert Subscribers,

BRC received a call from Don Black, Land Use Director for the Utah Four Wheel Drive Association (U4WDA), regarding an effort by the Tooele County Commissioners to formally abandon certain public roads in the Ophir Mountains.

Some of the roads in question are: The Bald Mountain Loop Road, Hartman Gulch Road, Halls Basin Road, South Fork Ophir Canyon Road and Rover Hill Road.

Mike Swenson, Executive Director of the Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL), has posted a map of the potential closures on the "Take Back Utah" website: http://portal.takebackutah.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3183

Utah law requires the state and the county to follow a procedure when formally abandoning a public right of way. Once the procedure is final, it will close all public access forever.

A key part of the abandonment process is opportunity to take public input regarding the closing of the roads. Don says Tooele County will hold their public meeting at the Commission Chambers in Tooele September 1, 2009, at 3:00 pm.

Now, there is very little information to give as to why the county is considering closing these roads, but we wanted to forward U4WDA's action alert to all our members in Utah. We also want to strongly encourage any BRC member living in Tooele County to try to attend this meeting.

Obviously, it may be difficult for working families to attend a meeting at 3:00 in the afternoon. So if you live in Tooele County, please contact your county commissioners if you are not able to attend.

Also, if you regularly use the roads mentioned, please contact BRC or Don at U4WDA as soon as possible. Our contact info is below.

I didn't see this link until now. Thanks for thinking of us Eric.

I, and many others, spoke out against this and all wasn't lost. Some of the most important roads are still open and the main one into a Ghost town that was restricted to ATVs is now open to all again. It is important that we get involved and keep what is ours before those that value a tree, rock or a fish (Delta smelt) more than human life takes everything.

Here is what I wrote about this area.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000139791666&ref=profile#/profile.php?id=100000139791666&v=app_2347471856&ref=profile