The RS2477 Threat

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Moffatt County's Extreme Proposal

Moffatt County's Plan to Turn Cattle Tracks into Highways

• View a map of Moffat County’s claims and some photos of at least one bogus claim.

• Read Moffat County’s resolution and inventory and maintenance protocol. 

• See Colorado's BOGUS HIGHWAY CLAIMS!  including those in Dinosaur National Monument, Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge and Vermillion Basin.

Pushing Oil and Mining Industry Access to Parks, Wildernesses, and Wildlife Refuges

• Read a July 12, 2001, letter from Moffat County that makes clear the link between the County's anti-wilderness, pro-oil bias and its RS 2477 claims.

• Read a January 2003 Steamboat Pilot article in which a Moffat County official admits that the county hopes to use RS 2477 to assist oil, gas, coal, and gravel mining on wilderness quality lands."

• Read a July 28, 2003, Craig Daily Press article in which a Moffat County official is paraphrased as follows: But considering Moffat County's size as the second largest in the state and the county's dependence on GAS AND OIL REVENUE, the county should be proactive in keeping public roads open.

Conservationists Respond: Don't Pave Our Parks!

• Read a comment letter on Moffat County’s proposal prepared by environmental groups.

• Read conservationists' March 11, 2003 request that Moffat County not maintain claimed 'highways' on America's public lands without federal approval, a letter that Moffat County has refused to answer.

Moffat County (Mis)leads Other Counties

Moffat County successfully pressed other Colorado counties on August 1, 2003 to endorse a process for Colorado that could turn cowpaths and hiking trails into paved highways through national parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas across the State.

• Read Moffat County's July 16, 2003, letter, which proposes that mere use of a trail by the public constructs a highway for RS 2477 purposes, thus permitting a county to build a real highway on the same spot.

• Read a Denver Post August 3, 2003, story about Colorado Counties, Inc., approving Moffat County's radical approach.

• Moffat County also pressed an organization of western Colorado Counties and interests--known as Club 20--to endorse on September 5, 2003, a radical interpretation that could turn hiking trails into paved highways through National Parks and other special areas. Read the resolution, which passed but with at least seven counties opposing the radical approach.

• Read a Denver Post article from July 27, 2003, about Moffat's bogus claims.

At least one Garfield County Commissioner thinks RS 2477 could be used to build a route abandoned 80 years ago to cut one of Colorado's largest wilderness areas -- the Flat Tops -- in half. See newspaper coverage of his claim, and a response from Rep. Mark Udall.

Political Leaders, Papers, Conservationists Fight Back

• Read a press release from conservationists opposing the Moffat County resolution.

• Read an August 1 Denver Post editorial criticizing Moffat County's resolution as 'radical,' 'absurd,' and a threat to tribal, wilderness and private land.

• Read Rep. Mark Udall's August 6, 2003 letter refuting a number of mischaracterizations made by counties about his RS 2477 bill.

• A county commissioner who is not pleased with Moffat County's extreme approach on RS 2477 issues posted commentary in The Summit Daily on August 7, 2003. 

• Costilla County, Colorado, on August 15, 2003, rejected Moffat County's extreme approach because it can "harm public lands, undermine private-property rights and hurt relations with Indian tribes."

• A September 12, 2003 Grand Junction Sentinel editorial criticized Moffat County's approach as a recipe for endless lawsuits.

• A recent court decision in Utah may limit the damage caused by Moffat County's proposal.  Read a news article and editorial from Moffat County's paper, the Craig Daily Press.

WHERE'S THE HIGHWAY?

Yampa River Canyon: Moffat County claims the Yampa River canyon (above) for more than 20 miles as a 'constructed highway.' County data gathered to support the assertion claims that the right-of-way was "built by Indians" in the 1800s and that it was used in winter to feed cattle when users of this alleged route "drove on ice." Images (c) 2003, Colorado Environmental Coalition.

MOFFAT COUNTY'S RIGHT-OF-WAY PUSH THREATENS PRIVATE LAND

According to press reports, Moffat County has gone to Court to push for a right-of-way across PRIVATE land, something the county commissioners promised not to do when they passed a January 2003 resolution claiming 2,000 miles of routes. Read a January 11, 2005, article about the suit , and a report the following day in which the County Commissioners profess ignorance about the suit they brought.

Moffat County roads - already more than it can handle?

Press reports from 2006 indicate Moffat County is trying to pawn off maintenance of real county roads on the state.  Why?  Because it can't afford to maintain the real roads it already has a responsibility to maintain.  If it can't afford to maintain its major roads, why is the county pushing to control thousands more miles of rough trails as "highways"?  What will that do to the county's budget? Read an account in the Craig Daily Press.