President Donald Trump has rescinded two long-standing executive orders limiting the use of off-road vehicles in national parks and public lands. One order signed by former President Richard Nixon in 1972 created rules for off-highway vehicles, including snowmobiles and motorcycles, to prevent damage to public lands.
According to the order, the goal was to prevent “adversely affecting natural, aesthetic, or scenic values.”
The other, signed by former President Jimmy Carter in 1977, allowed managers of public lands to close areas to off-road driving if it was causing environmental damage.
The White House calls the regulations “outdated and burdensome.
“These vague, subjective criteria often result in barriers to energy and timber production and utility maintenance, permit delays, and de facto bans on hiking and other forms of recreation that require accessing remote areas, all while doing little to benefit multiple use of Federal lands,” reads the May 29 order.
Trump’s order specifically targets rules minimizing wildlife harassment and habitat disruption. The president’s new directive does not immediately lift environmental protections nor open closed trails. Such changes would still require federal review and public comment.
According to the off-road lobbyist group Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Arizona has experienced a 347% growth in OHV use over the last decade.
Conservationists worry the order would cause irreversible ecosystem damage in national parks and would harm the Arizona Strip, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
“These executive orders provided the foundation for common-sense management of motorized vehicles on public lands, recognizing the detrimental impact unmanaged motor vehicles have on cultural sites, wildlife, waterways and other public land users,” said Laura Peterson, senior attorney with at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, in a press release. “The impacts of repealing these executive orders will be long-lasting and devastating.”
