Crowdog
01-21-2002, 01:59 PM
Potato Salad Hill: A political hot potato among four-wheelers, nearby residents
by Franklin Seal
Thursday, January 10, 2002
Moab Time-Independent
A Mill Creek citizens group closely tied to the Moab Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) Field Office is trying to figure out what
to recommend to the BLM regarding Potato Salad Hill near the mouth of Mill Creek. But with Jeep Safari now only three months away, the clock is ticking. Some members say there may not be enough time to work out a solution to the politically complex problem prior to the start of this year’s event.
The hill, located between the old Moab landfill and the Power Dam area, has attracted large gatherings of four-wheel drive enthusiasts during the annual jeep festival that occurs in Moab each April. The short stretch of steep rock is close to town and easily accessed from the Sand Flats Road.
Last year the unofficial four-wheel event there—an event Jeep Safari organizers repudiate—grew into the thousands. Numerous arrests occurred at the party, many of them alcohol related. And together with its sister gathering at the nearby Dump Bump, the four-wheeling party at Potato Salad Hill created traffic control headaches for local law enforcement.
Of even greater concern for at least some members of the Mill Creek Partnership (MCP) is the damage the event is doing to the land. The hill sits immediately above Mill Creek, a sensitive riparian area.
A subcommittee of the Partnership met Dec. 11 at the BLM’s Moab Field Office specifically to consider making a set of recommendations based on a plan put forward last spring by Partnership member and Powerhouse Lane homeowner Tom Johnson.
"We’ve been talking about the issues of how people enter Mill Creek Canyon for years," Johnson said. "What we’re doing is we’re watching a rapid disintegration of the Potato Salad Hill area. Every year it gets progressively more denuded of vegetation. It’s stunning if you watch it. There’s two new routes up there that weren’t there a year ago." He also said that the fact that he owns land close to the site was not the driving force behind his involvement in the issue. "I don’t think it affects me any more than it affects anyone else in Moab. I don’t think that’s the issue that’s driving this."
Personally, his vision for the long-term solution to the problem focuses on the creation of a parking lot. "I would hope that there would be a parking area at the dump and that there would be no longer any vehicles going beyond the parking area."
BLM hydrologist Ann Marie Aubry, who acts as the agency’s official liaison to the Partnership, says all those who participated in the subcommittee meeting agreed that Potato Salad Hill is a problem. "Not everybody agreed that it’s a problem year round," she added, "but everybody agreed that it’s a problem during jeep week."
The Dec. 11 meeting was called to consider Johnson’s plan that he formulated last spring and formally presented to the Partnership Sept. 15.
An unofficial tally of crowds at Potato Salad Hill taken by Johnson during last year’s event showed a 50 percent increase in spectators and vehicles over previous years. Pictures taken before and after last year’s jeep week showed a marked increase in the barren, traffic-scarred area below the main hill climb. They also showed two new hill climb routes on the slope next to it.
Johnson’s original plan included closing Potato Salad Hill to vehicle traffic and installing a parking lot on part of the old Moab City landfill. It also included pushing back the Power Dam trailhead to a point near the end of the Power House Lane neighborhood and closing the road beyond that point to non-emergency motorized traffic.
At the beginning of the Dec. 11 subcommittee meeting, Aubry held a copy of Johnson’s plan in the air and asked the group, What do you want to do with this? "But no one wanted to look at the whole thing—the Mill Creek entryway," she said. "The topic was too big. It’s overwhelming. Maybe that’s because not everyone agrees that it’s a problem the whole year."
One idea, among a variety discussed during the Dec. 11 meeting, is for the BLM to find a "concessionaire," Aubry said—someone who might take out an event permit for the BLM property during Jeep Week.
BLM Resource Administrator for Recreation Russ von Koch said he introduced the concessionaire idea. But he added, "no conclusive decision has been made on what to do about this."
One version of the idea, according to Aubry, is that the permittee would control access to the site, limiting the number of vehicles allowed down the old dump road at any one time. The permittee might operate a parking lot and perhaps a shuttle service. "I think it’s premature, at this point, to try to decide what might be done," von Koch said. And there may not be enough time left, he added. "It may not be do-able this year."
One complicating factor is that most scenarios involving a concessionaire utilize an off-site parking lot that would probably sit on land belonging to Grand County. At this point, it’s unclear what position the county is taking on the idea.
Grand County Administrator Judy Bane, who also attended the Dec. 11 MCP meeting, said the county is exploring ideas about what to do about Potato Salad Hill. "We’re just talking," she said. But she agreed something should be done. "It’s just so chaotic—we’ve got to do something. I just think we need more opinions from people because there are lots of opinions on it." She was working to set up a meeting Jan. 15 between county officials, BLM employees and leaders in the local four-wheel drive community.
Grand County Sheriff Jim Nyland, another county official at the Dec. 11 MCP meeting, said he wasn’t taking a position on what to do about Potato Salad Hill. "I’m just leaving it up to the BLM to make that decision," he said. One of his concerns was that closing the site might simply push the four-wheelers to go somewhere else. "Last year I had the idea to keep the Dump Bump and Potato Salad Hill open to keep it confined to two locations because I know that when people come here with a four-wheel drive vehicle they’re going to climb something."
He said law enforcement efforts at Potato Salad Hill went smoothly last year and that he does not perceive doing anything especially different this year. He also expressed the opinion that there was probably not enough time to close the hill prior to this year’s jeep week.
Organizers of the official Jeep Safari event, Red Rock 4-Wheelers (RR4W), so far, have not taken a stand on the issue. "We’ve just kind of washed our hands of that [Potato Salad Hill] and the Dump Bump," said former RR4W president and public information officer Ber Knight who has represented the group at several MCP meetings. He sees a need for someplace where that kind of activity can happen. "In terms of four-wheeling, it comes down to the fact that you need play areas. It’s contrary to a lot of my feelings, but just because of the sheer mass of the thing, maybe we do."
Red Rock 4-wheelers President Doug McElhaney said he expects the group to eventually take a position on the issue following official discussions just now getting underway. He points out the group is against creating new trails to get around worn-out or difficult sections on a trail. "We don’t promote multiple-trailing," he said. But he added that the group has also worked to retain access to existing trails. Speaking for himself, he shared Nyland’s concern that if Potato Salad Hill is shut down the party may just move somewhere else. "The people that do those kinds of things at Potato Salad Hill are going to do those kinds of things somewhere. Why destroy another place?"
http://www.moabtimes.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crowdog
by Franklin Seal
Thursday, January 10, 2002
Moab Time-Independent
A Mill Creek citizens group closely tied to the Moab Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) Field Office is trying to figure out what
to recommend to the BLM regarding Potato Salad Hill near the mouth of Mill Creek. But with Jeep Safari now only three months away, the clock is ticking. Some members say there may not be enough time to work out a solution to the politically complex problem prior to the start of this year’s event.
The hill, located between the old Moab landfill and the Power Dam area, has attracted large gatherings of four-wheel drive enthusiasts during the annual jeep festival that occurs in Moab each April. The short stretch of steep rock is close to town and easily accessed from the Sand Flats Road.
Last year the unofficial four-wheel event there—an event Jeep Safari organizers repudiate—grew into the thousands. Numerous arrests occurred at the party, many of them alcohol related. And together with its sister gathering at the nearby Dump Bump, the four-wheeling party at Potato Salad Hill created traffic control headaches for local law enforcement.
Of even greater concern for at least some members of the Mill Creek Partnership (MCP) is the damage the event is doing to the land. The hill sits immediately above Mill Creek, a sensitive riparian area.
A subcommittee of the Partnership met Dec. 11 at the BLM’s Moab Field Office specifically to consider making a set of recommendations based on a plan put forward last spring by Partnership member and Powerhouse Lane homeowner Tom Johnson.
"We’ve been talking about the issues of how people enter Mill Creek Canyon for years," Johnson said. "What we’re doing is we’re watching a rapid disintegration of the Potato Salad Hill area. Every year it gets progressively more denuded of vegetation. It’s stunning if you watch it. There’s two new routes up there that weren’t there a year ago." He also said that the fact that he owns land close to the site was not the driving force behind his involvement in the issue. "I don’t think it affects me any more than it affects anyone else in Moab. I don’t think that’s the issue that’s driving this."
Personally, his vision for the long-term solution to the problem focuses on the creation of a parking lot. "I would hope that there would be a parking area at the dump and that there would be no longer any vehicles going beyond the parking area."
BLM hydrologist Ann Marie Aubry, who acts as the agency’s official liaison to the Partnership, says all those who participated in the subcommittee meeting agreed that Potato Salad Hill is a problem. "Not everybody agreed that it’s a problem year round," she added, "but everybody agreed that it’s a problem during jeep week."
The Dec. 11 meeting was called to consider Johnson’s plan that he formulated last spring and formally presented to the Partnership Sept. 15.
An unofficial tally of crowds at Potato Salad Hill taken by Johnson during last year’s event showed a 50 percent increase in spectators and vehicles over previous years. Pictures taken before and after last year’s jeep week showed a marked increase in the barren, traffic-scarred area below the main hill climb. They also showed two new hill climb routes on the slope next to it.
Johnson’s original plan included closing Potato Salad Hill to vehicle traffic and installing a parking lot on part of the old Moab City landfill. It also included pushing back the Power Dam trailhead to a point near the end of the Power House Lane neighborhood and closing the road beyond that point to non-emergency motorized traffic.
At the beginning of the Dec. 11 subcommittee meeting, Aubry held a copy of Johnson’s plan in the air and asked the group, What do you want to do with this? "But no one wanted to look at the whole thing—the Mill Creek entryway," she said. "The topic was too big. It’s overwhelming. Maybe that’s because not everyone agrees that it’s a problem the whole year."
One idea, among a variety discussed during the Dec. 11 meeting, is for the BLM to find a "concessionaire," Aubry said—someone who might take out an event permit for the BLM property during Jeep Week.
BLM Resource Administrator for Recreation Russ von Koch said he introduced the concessionaire idea. But he added, "no conclusive decision has been made on what to do about this."
One version of the idea, according to Aubry, is that the permittee would control access to the site, limiting the number of vehicles allowed down the old dump road at any one time. The permittee might operate a parking lot and perhaps a shuttle service. "I think it’s premature, at this point, to try to decide what might be done," von Koch said. And there may not be enough time left, he added. "It may not be do-able this year."
One complicating factor is that most scenarios involving a concessionaire utilize an off-site parking lot that would probably sit on land belonging to Grand County. At this point, it’s unclear what position the county is taking on the idea.
Grand County Administrator Judy Bane, who also attended the Dec. 11 MCP meeting, said the county is exploring ideas about what to do about Potato Salad Hill. "We’re just talking," she said. But she agreed something should be done. "It’s just so chaotic—we’ve got to do something. I just think we need more opinions from people because there are lots of opinions on it." She was working to set up a meeting Jan. 15 between county officials, BLM employees and leaders in the local four-wheel drive community.
Grand County Sheriff Jim Nyland, another county official at the Dec. 11 MCP meeting, said he wasn’t taking a position on what to do about Potato Salad Hill. "I’m just leaving it up to the BLM to make that decision," he said. One of his concerns was that closing the site might simply push the four-wheelers to go somewhere else. "Last year I had the idea to keep the Dump Bump and Potato Salad Hill open to keep it confined to two locations because I know that when people come here with a four-wheel drive vehicle they’re going to climb something."
He said law enforcement efforts at Potato Salad Hill went smoothly last year and that he does not perceive doing anything especially different this year. He also expressed the opinion that there was probably not enough time to close the hill prior to this year’s jeep week.
Organizers of the official Jeep Safari event, Red Rock 4-Wheelers (RR4W), so far, have not taken a stand on the issue. "We’ve just kind of washed our hands of that [Potato Salad Hill] and the Dump Bump," said former RR4W president and public information officer Ber Knight who has represented the group at several MCP meetings. He sees a need for someplace where that kind of activity can happen. "In terms of four-wheeling, it comes down to the fact that you need play areas. It’s contrary to a lot of my feelings, but just because of the sheer mass of the thing, maybe we do."
Red Rock 4-wheelers President Doug McElhaney said he expects the group to eventually take a position on the issue following official discussions just now getting underway. He points out the group is against creating new trails to get around worn-out or difficult sections on a trail. "We don’t promote multiple-trailing," he said. But he added that the group has also worked to retain access to existing trails. Speaking for himself, he shared Nyland’s concern that if Potato Salad Hill is shut down the party may just move somewhere else. "The people that do those kinds of things at Potato Salad Hill are going to do those kinds of things somewhere. Why destroy another place?"
http://www.moabtimes.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crowdog