San Juan County is spending tens of thousands of dollars claiming a right of way through controversial Recapture Canyon.
Without state support, officials in the southeastern Utah county recently filed a stand-alone lawsuit against the U.S. government, citing various historic records indicating the county maintained a “road” there since 1886.
The canyon, famed for cliff dwellings and an illegally built ATV trail, has been a source of friction for years between county officials and federal land managers, who closed the canyon east of Blanding to motorized use in 2007 to protect its archaeological resources.
Most recently the Bureau of Land Management declined the county’s long-standing request to authorize a motorized route there, a decision the state is challenging before the Interior Board of Land Appeals.