SUWA Sues, Seeks Emergency Injunction to Halt Garfield County Paving

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah and moved for emergency relief to halt Garfield County’s road work on Hole‑in‑the‑Rock Road inside Grand Staircase‑Escalante National Monument. SUWA says the county has begun unauthorized realigning, widening, grading, and chip‑sealing that threaten the monument’s remote visitor experience and that the Bureau of Land Management has failed to stop the work.

SUWA asked the court for a temporary restraining order and an emergency injunction on Feb. 6, 2026, arguing that county crews have gone beyond routine maintenance and that the BLM must enforce federal obligations under the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act. SUWA’s complaint says: “The County’s ‘bulldoze first, talk later’ road improvements are in direct violation of Tenth Circuit precedent, and BLM’s failure to order the County to halt all road improvements and initiate pre-work consultation regarding those improvements violates its duties.”

Hole‑in‑the‑Rock Road runs from the junction of Highway 12 east of Escalante to the cliffs above the Colorado River in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. SUWA materials describe the route as a 62‑mile road with 57 miles inside the 1.9‑million‑acre monument and 16 miles in Garfield County. The organization calls the unpaved, primarily dirt road “core to the remote experience” that draws visitors to the monument. SUWA staff attorney Hanna Larsen warned, “Paving will lead to more, faster, and louder traffic forever changing the remote, serene backcountry experience the Monument was created to protect and that draws visitors from around the world.”

The legal fight sits atop years of litigation over public‑land roads. Kane County filed an RS 2477 claim for the road in 2010, and after roughly 15 years of litigation a federal judge, Clark Waddoups, granted Garfield and Kane counties quiet title across the monument in a July ruling. SUWA’s current theory is that even with that decision, improvements beyond maintenance require consultation with the BLM under Tenth Circuit precedent and that the agency must prevent undue degradation of monument lands.

BLM declined to comment and referred questions to a July statement from the Utah Attorney General’s office saying local management of federal roads can bring “better access and safety.” Garfield County has not provided a public statement in the material SUWA distributed.

For visitors planning trips, potential consequences include changes in traffic speed and volume and possible short‑term work zones or access notices. Check BLM alerts and Garfield County notices before traveling to Escalante and the monument. SUWA lists local offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, and invites volunteers to contact volunteer@suwa.org for more information.

The lawsuit will test how far county control extends after the quiet‑title ruling and whether the BLM must step in to review upgrades. Expect a federal court decision on SUWA’s emergency motion in the coming days, and watch for county or BLM responses and the court docket for the complaint and supporting exhibits to clarify the scope of the alleged paving work.