National parks, monuments, wilderness areas, and other special public lands could soon see more road development and damaging off-road vehicle use under a new scheme being prepared by outgoing Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

Behind closed doors and without seeking input from Congress or the public, the Department of Interior is working on a new process for approving old claims to some real and fake highways on federal lands across the West, under an antiquated loophole known as RS 2477. The new policy would make it easier for states or counties to promote highway construction on public lands -- even though the claims generally have little connection to legitimate transportation needs, and would undermine protection for our nation's public lands.

Any place where there has ever been a cow track, a hiking trail, or off-road vehicle path could be at risk, potentially resulting in a spider web of roads across some of our most remote and unspoiled lands. Please take action today, asking your senator to oppose the administration’s horrible scheme.

Highway Robbery

Adopted in 1866, a year after the end of the Civil War, Revised Statute 2477 (RS 2477) was originally intended to ensure that local governments could invest in highway construction across public lands without fear of being labeled trespassers. In 1976, Congress repealed RS 2477 and replaced it with an updated process to determine reasonable access to public lands.

But some states and counties across the West have been claiming that roads, off-road vehicle routes, cattle tracks, and streambeds are technically highways under RS 2477, and for five years the Bush administration has been attempting to legitimize these claims.

Now, the Department of the Interior appears poised to adopt a streamlined process for effectively surrendering control of thousands of federally owned jeep tracks, cow paths, and little used trails across public lands throughout West to local and state governments. Under the new policy, these routes could be viewed as highways, and could be maintained as such.

Removing federal protections from these routes could have major consequences throughout the West. National parks, wildlife refuges, national monuments, national forests, conservation areas, and other sensitive federal lands could see more road development and damaging off-road vehicle use. For example:

• The state of Utah submitted a map to the Interior Department in 2000, claiming that 100,000 miles of routes, including every hiking trail in Zion National Park and routes across every designated wilderness in the state, are highways under RS 2477.
• In California, San Bernardino County has claimed that more than 5,000 miles of highways crisscross the Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National Park, including more than 700 miles within designated wilderness. The great majority of these routes are ranch trails, cow paths, and other faint non-highway routes.
• Moffat County, Colorado has claimed that 240 miles of trails through Dinosaur National Monument, including part of the Yampa River itself, are highways.
• The state of Alaska has asserted 164 separate routes through 14 Alaska national parks, totaling almost 3,000 miles. A 1993 National Park Service report concluded that the impact of these claims "could be devastating." The state also claims over 3,700 miles of potential roads and trails through 15 national wildlife refuges, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Many of these routes are nothing more than dog sled trails or old horse paths.

Under the new process, it is unlikely that the administration will seek meaningful public input or ensure that these roads, routes, tracks, and trails will not damage rivers, wildlife habitat, cultural artifacts, and other important resources. Certain lands – including national parks, national monuments, designated wilderness areas, and lands proposed for wilderness protection – are just too important to be unilaterally surrendered for damaging road development, and should be omitted from the administration’s highway giveaway.

Please Take Action Now

Please write to your senators about your concerns with the Department’s proposal, and ask them to do everything in their power to stop the agency from moving forward with this scheme.