S-1135-119
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 473.
Sponsored by John Curtis (R-UT)
What it does
This bill would amend the National Trails System Act to add the Bonneville Shoreline Trail — a roughly 280-mile system of trails running from the Idaho-Utah border to Nephi, Utah, along the ancient Lake Bonneville bench — to the list of trails eligible for a national designation feasibility study. As amended in committee, it would direct the Secretary of Agriculture (rather than the Secretary of the Interior) to conduct that study. The bill does not designate the trail as a national trail; it only authorizes the study.
Who benefits
Hikers, mountain bikers, and outdoor recreationists in Utah and Idaho who use or would use the trail. Local tourism-dependent businesses in communities along the trail corridor. Conservation and trail advocacy organizations seeking federal recognition. Utah and Idaho state and local governments that could gain federal partnership and funding if the trail is eventually designated. The U.S. Forest Service (Secretary of Agriculture's agency), which would gain a study mandate.
Who is hurt
Private landowners along the 280-mile corridor whose property could be affected by a future designation process, including potential easement negotiations or access requirements. Local governments or counties that may prefer trails remain under state or local management. Competing trail or recreation projects that may be deprioritized for federal study resources. Taxpayers who would bear the modest cost of the study.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that the Bonneville Shoreline Trail follows a geologically and historically significant landscape — the ancient shoreline of Lake Bonneville — and that federal study is a necessary first step toward securing the long-term protection and connectivity of a trail system that already serves hundreds of thousands of Utahns. They contend that national trail designation has historically brought federal resources, improved maintenance, and increased tourism revenue to rural communities, as seen with other designated trails in the National Trails System.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that adding trails to the federal study queue consumes limited agency resources and can set communities on a path toward federal land management that displaces state, local, and private stewardship that has successfully maintained the trail to date. They contend that federal designation processes can take decades, create regulatory uncertainty for adjacent landowners, and may ultimately impose access or land-use restrictions on private property along the corridor without adequate compensation.