Story by Ranch Pratt, Board President, Blue Ribbon Coalition
Well, this is a new one to me… I can say, without qualification, that I never imagined I would be writing about land use. My career has been in off-road retail, manufacturing, competitive desert racing, and Rock Crawling. How I became involved in a land-use battle, much less possibly “The” land-use battle of our time, is a long story. 
For now, the size of the battle and what hangs in the balance is so massive that other details are irrelevant. What we are going to do about it eclipses all other topics.
As most are aware, the Bureau of Land Management has announced that it is closing 317 miles of premier off-road trails and dispersed camping sites in the Gemini Bridges area surrounding Moab. This is a devastating blow to us all. Here is where we are at and why it is so important.
The situation in Moab is in flux. At this writing, the Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC) has filed a motion of stay with proper documentation and what should be ample reason and cause to rule in our favor. It could also be ruled against us, as has happened often in the past. Regardless of which way it goes, the fight is far from over. The impact this fight will have on our future, and friction in modality, is what keeps me up at night. You shouldn’t be sleeping too well, either.
“I don’t care about Moab,” “I don’t even go there.” – is something I have heard too many times to count in the last three months. Excitement that their favorite trail wasn’t impacted has been another common response. This type of thinking is deadly for off-roaders everywhere. Why? Because Moab is perceived as the premier mecca in the United States for off-road use. It is and has been under the magnifying glass so intensely and for so long that the precedent that this action and ruling sets will likely become the default for land use (non-use) protocol and decisions for decades to come. And let me be clear on this: Closed trails do not re-open. Closed trails never re-open! This is why it doesn’t matter if you go to Moab or not.
It doesn’t matter if you dislike the political climate in Moab today. It doesn’t matter if your favorite trail is still open. Your voice still counts. Your money still counts. Your support as a number still counts today here and will ultimately affect your trail no matter where that is.
The length of this fight keeps me awake, too. Hollywood will spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to keep our attention for about two hours. What does that tell us? We all have short attention spans and would rather be Jeeping or riding than fighting. When we lose the collective, when individuals disengage, we lose the battle and, subsequently, the war. We must stay engaged. We have to keep pushing.
The closures in Moab are very strategic. Most of the Easter Jeep Safari trails remain open. The offshoots that have a destination or view are those hit hardest, together with dispersed camping sites. I believe the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is banking on that, leading to a weak defensive fight (my opinion). Closing these trails leaves the remaining open trails, apart from the EJS trails, without purpose. There is no destination, and they aren’t challenging, so they will mostly go unused and, therefore, easily fall prey to a “reclaimed” classification (the trail isn’t used, nature has reclaimed it, the BLM then re-classifies it, and that trail no longer officially exists. Again, closed trails do not re-open. With that second action complete, a final wave for Moab is the Safari trails. When the Blue Ribbon Coalition chose the “Defend Your Ground” tagline, this is what we meant. Defending the small closures is required to protect the big. This is why it is fitting. The BRC is in it for the long run. I hope that despite the amount of time it takes, people will stay in the fight. We can turn this around, but we must remain engaged.
Friction in modality is the devastating conflict of bikers VS Jeepers, Jeepers VS UTV, UTV VS motorcycles, and every other combination you can put together. The reality is that there is rarely significant conflict on the trail, but rather finger-pointing and bad-mouthing off the trail. This is a complete waste of energy that brings abysmal results to the effort. United We Stand is a phrase that is true in every battle. 
With off-roading having different meanings to different people, it is more necessary to work on unity here than in many other fights. We aren’t fighting for a single modality but for a collective people.
Consciously looking past the modality right now is a decisive win for us all. Put it in your head to look past that and focus on the bigger battle lest they crush us while distracted.
Does this battle keep me up at night? Yes, it does – it is very relevant. But I am confident. I feel honored and motivated to be in this fight at this time. Honored because I know it is truly THE good fight. Motivated because I know we can win. Follow the Blue Ribbon Coalition to find out what steps you can take to defend your ground as this battle, and the battles yet to come, unfold. www.sharetrails.org