The Utah Department of Natural Resources is developing a resource management plan for recreation on both the Green River and Colorado River. The purpose of this plan is to, “address and reduce recreation conflicts, overcrowding, and other issues on sovereign land river segments.” BlueRibbon is consistently seeing user conflict given as justification to close access and recreational opportunities for certain user groups even though there are no documented instances of conflict. Another area of concern is the limitation of jet boat use as well as group size and watercraft limitations.
Let’s ensure that public waters are open to all recreation users.
Comments will be accepted by Utah DNR through July 29, 2024.
Jet boats have been used for 61 years, and they provide tours and access on the river along with economic benefit for local communities. There is not detailed analysis on how this will affect local economies by restricting jet boat tours through this plan. Private docks could also be restricted with no real evidence of how the docks are creating significant impact to users or the environment. The group size limits and limitations on the amount of watercraft per group is arbitrary and isn’t based on hard science. Much of the proposals are based off of survey results from several years ago. The majority of users who participated in the survey are inflatable raft users. Obviously they will favor their preferred method of recreation. This is not justification to close or restrict other uses on these river segments.
The BLM has already closed motorized routes on the ground as to not interrupt river users. Rafters should not be given exclusionary rights to these rivers. The Dingell Act, which was passed by Congress has already determined segments of the Green River that is restricted to recreation and motorized use, we should not be letting the state of Utah extend the areas of closures through this plan.
