Utahns participate in the Take Back Utah rally

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Thousands of concerned citizens paraded all types of off-road vehicles, coal trucks, jeeps, mountain bikes, and other vehicles from Liberty Park to State Street and arrived at the front steps of the Utah capitol building. A rally followed on the south lawn and steps featuring speakers Gov. Gary Herbert and Rep. Rob Bishop. Last August crowds of approximately 3,500-4,000 people attended this same event.
The event and movement is called, “Take Back Utah!” some have subtitled it the Sagebrush Rebellion II. The purpose of the event was to call attention to the importance of access to public land in Utah and engage concerned citizens. It is also to encourage political leaders at all levels of government to take action on protecting such access.
A broad range of user groups will be represented from off-roaders to cattlemen, oil and gas companies to mountain bikers.
Notable speakers included, Gov. Herbert, Rep. Bishop, via video Rep. Chaffetz, U.S. senate candidate Mike Lee, and state legislator Mike Noel. 50 or more state legislators attended as well as local activist leaders and land use organizations.
Take Back Utah is a grass roots event and movement organized and sponsored by a coalition of organizations, individual, businesses, and government leaders that want to protect and preserve responsible motorized access to public land in Utah.
Take Back Utah has three areas of focus they are:
1. They are focused on enacting public policy change at the federal government level to protect access to our public lands for all.
2. They serve as an inclusive and unifying voice to diverse groups of American’s who want to access and experience America’s Wild Places for themselves, regardless of age, ability or other factors that may be limiting.
3. They are a loud voice of truth about public land access issues – they speak with veracity to educate our fellow citizens and government officials about how today’s “Wilderness” policies exclude most American’s from having the ability to personally experience America’s most wild places, as well as how these policies weaken the ability of America’s small towns to survive.