Federal Bureau of Land Management officials from Utah to Washington, D.C., rushed approval, with little if any public scrutiny, for a Utah county to chip-seal more than seven miles of a remote high desert track that environmental groups fear will adversely impact solitude, wildlife, and lead to resource damage on wild lands next to Capitol Reef National Park, according to a lawsuit filed against the agency.
The 18-page filing (attached below) submitted Wednesday by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, The Wilderness Society, and the National Parks Conservation Association charges that Garfield County had no valid right to improve the stretch of Burr Trail, which heads southeast from the eastern boundary of the national park through a rugged landscape with cliffs 800 feet high. The section in question also passes by the Mount Pennell Wilderness Study Area and the Long Canyon Land with Wilderness Characteristics unit.
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