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Revised Statute (RS) 2477
Highway Robbery Seeks to Swipe Scenic Lands from America’s Wilderness Bank
Scenic public lands long thought to be safe from roads are facing a new threat from an old law, which some state and county officials have resurrected to minimize wilderness designation and other protections. With the help of the Bush administration, they are using it to propose thousands of so-called "highways" through America’s national parks, monuments, and wilderness. These include more than 15,000 "highways" throughout Zion National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and many lands proposed for wilderness designation in America's Redrock Wilderness Act—beautiful public lands that belong to all Americans and are meant to be conserved and protected for future generations.
Why does this matter?
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Roads disqualify lands from wilderness designation; -
Roads open adjacent lands to destructive off-road vehicle use, with losses of archaeological sites, wildlife habitat and water quality, not to mention lost peace, quiet and natural beauty; -
Thousands of new roads across public lands create a management nightmare for BLM, Forest Service and National Park Service managers.
What is RS 2477?
Revised Statute 2477, part of the 1866 Mining Law, granted rights-of-way for "construction of highways" over federal public lands. Although Congress repealed RS 2477 in 1976, any valid existing rights-of-way were honored, or "grandfathered" in.
Most of these proposed RS 2477 "highways" are not highways, but instead are remote jeep trails, dry desert streambeds, even cow paths (see our Bogus Roads photo gallery above). They do little, if anything, to meet reasonable transportation needs, yet wreak havoc on public and even private lands.
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RS 2477 Bogus Roads Gallery
Some of the absurb routes Utah counties are claiming as "highway" rights-of-way under RS 2477.
View this Album ...
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