The area provides many recreational opportunities. Rabbit Valley offers mountain biking, horseback riding, off-highway vehicle (OHV) use, and hiking on a designated trail system. This is the starting point for Kokopelli’s Mountain Bike Trail—a 140 mile trail ride to Moab, Utah. Spectacular hiking opportunities exist in the red rock canyons of the wilderness area and in Rattlesnake Canyon Arches. River rafting and kayaking are major sports in the Ruby Canyon portion of the Colorado River. In addition to the sportsmen who take advantage of the area’s fishing and waterfowl hunting, Ruby Canyon has over 8,000 visitors each year.
Sixteen allotments, including 11 in the wilderness, provide winter and early spring grazing for cattle. The area is withdrawn from any active mining activity and there are no known oil or gas reserves. Motorized vehicles and mountain bikes are not allowed in the wilderness, nor are other construction, mining, energy exploration or development, or rights-of-way activities.
A resource plan is being developed to address numerous issues, such as travel management, recreation (use of motorized boats and jet skis), grazing use, rights-of-way authorizations, wilderness stewardship, and the need for integration of resource management of this area with other agency and community plans. An advisory council will assist the BLM in its planning efforts. The Mesa County Board of County Commissioners, the Northwest Advisory Council, and the ranchers holding grazing permits will be included on the council.
Land restoration, trail construction, and weed control (e.g., tamarisk) activities will continue under current plan direction. Archaeological investigations will be conducted. No new commercial permits will be issued unless they fill a need in the Ruby Canyon-Black Ridge Resource Management Plan. The NCA legislation does not provide Federal reserved water rights. However, BLM will collect hydrologic baseline data to determine if future water rights may need to be pursued.
