ShareTrails | Twelve Days of Legal Updates| Day 9: Keep Massacre Rocks Open For Recreation

Massacre Rocks, ID

The off-road trails around Massacre Rocks near American Falls, Idaho were a favorite destination of Clark Collins, the late founder of BRC. In 2011, the BLM started a planning process that would close almost all of the routes in this area. In addition to closing the off-road routes, this plan would also close 500 out of 700 rock climbing routes. We recently filed an objection along with several local climbing organizations to oppose these closures. We should find out in the early spring whether the Bureau of Land Management will improve this plan based on the feedback in our objection letter.

This plan is part of a disturbing trend where recreation users, such as rock climbers, are seeing substantial restrictions in access that they have historically taken for granted. We believe there are reasonable management options to keep this area open for motorized recreation and rock climbing while also protecting the resources of the area, which include important cultural resources. From dispersed camping, to boat marinas, to rock climbing routes, to some of the most popular off-road trails in the world near Moab, it seems that our public land agencies don’t want the public to be able to use public land. BRC is leading the fight to support all users of public land and water to have access to the public benefit of outdoor recreation on our public lands.

Support Our Legal Fund to Keep Our Public Lands Open for Public Use.