Trump signs resolution allowing for expanded motorized recreation around Lake Powell

Lake Powell is pictured near Page, Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

President Donald Trump recently signed a resolution expanding motorized access to remote regions surrounding Lake Powell. 

The resolution — sponsored by Utah Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy — overturns a policy from the National Park Service that limits where off-road vehicles can drive in parts of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. 

Under the rule, which was implemented during the Biden administration, conventional vehicles were still allowed to travel existing routes within the recreation area. But about 25 roads amounting to roughly 26 miles were closed to specialized off-road vehicles, like dirtbikes, ATVs or side-by-sides. 

Maloy and other members of Utah’s congressional delegation say the resolution allows for greater recreation opportunities in the area, and criticized the Biden-era rule for going against the will of locals. Opponents to the resolution, which included Democrats in Congress and a number of environmental groups, argue that expanding vehicle access could cause severe damage to the region’s most sensitive and pristine environments.

“Orange Cliffs, Gunsight Butte, and Canyonlands National Park’s Maze District will be impaired by noisy, destructive off-highway vehicles. It’s a dark day for all who love Southern Utah and Glen Canyon’s wild places.’’ said Hanna Larsen, a staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, in a statement last month. 

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The resolution, which passed the House in April, the Senate in May and was signed by Trump on May 23, invokes the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to review and overturn federal rules.

It’s the latest in nearly two decades of political back-and-forth over motorized recreation in Glen Canyon. 

For years, environmental groups criticized the National Park Service for its loose regulation of off-road vehicles around the recreation area. In 2005, groups sued over the lack of enforcement. In  2008, the service settled and agreed to create an off-road vehicle management plan. 

Then in 2021, the first Trump administration released a new plan that opened up much of the recreation area to all kinds of motorized use. 

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance sued two years later, arguing the administration’s plan failed to take all of the environmental impacts into consideration. The National Park Service settled again, agreeing to close the Lake Powell shoreline to motorized use, unless water levels were “sustainable.” It also put restrictions on ATV and side-by-side use in certain areas.

In January, the park service rule officially went into effect. Maloy said in a statement Tuesday that her resolution was a result of constituent concerns over the rule’s “nonsensical restrictions on motorized access.”

“We took legislative action and, through this (Congressional Review Act), reversed a rule pushed through by the previous administration. Utahns shouldn’t be shut out of decisions that affect their own backyard. Now we can continue to recreate in the National Recreation Area. Thank you to our Senators for working with me to get this done for Utah,” Maloy said. 

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Utah’s two Republican senators, Mike Lee and John Curtis, also celebrated the resolution becoming law. Curtis called it an “an important step to ensure our public lands remain open to the people.” Lee said it makes it clear that “environmental groups don’t get to dictate our National Recreation Areas through backroom deals.” 

“This was a classic case of sue-and-settle policymaking where bureaucrats caved to activists and cut Americans out of the process. That’s not how representation is supposed to work,” Lee said in a statement. “I’m proud President Trump signed this CRA into law.” 

Managed by the National Park Service, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area was formed in 1972 and borders several national parks and monuments, like Bears Ears, Capitol Reef and Canyonlands. It covers Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the country, which attracts millions of visitors each year. In 2023, the service recorded more than 4.7 million visits.