HURRICANE — Many high school students and their parents left a recent Hurricane City Council meeting disappointed. Included on the council’s agenda was a proposal for a state championship tournament to be held on Hurricane City and Utah Bureau of Land Management property.
It looked like a win-win for everyone involved, until the owners of the cattle grazing the land voiced their concerns.
The race was to be hosted by the Utah National Interscholastic Cycling Association, which is looking for a permanent home for its annual state championship competition. The city owns property near Frog Hollow Dam that would be used for staging the event.
Many trails that would be used for the race already exist, although additional trails would be needed to connect others.
A resolution of support was drafted and included in the council’s bi-weekly packet. Students and parents came, but the proposal never made it to vote, nor was it signed.
Hurricane resident Mac Hall addressed the council stating that repeated use by too many people would destroy areas his cattle have been grazing for four generations.
“If you invite this big of a group in, basically you destroy that opportunity for grazing,” he said.
Hurricane Valley resident Justin Reeves said he was concerned about the detention pond, and flooding that occurs during rainstorms that could turn the staging area into conditions more suitable for a mud bog race.
Jake Weber, from Apple Valley, told the council statistics from the Utah High School Cycling League, and how mountain biking is one of the fastest-growing sports in high school nationwide.
“We are four times bigger than the next biggest league in the nation,” he said. “We have 7,800 kids — we have 3,000 coaches.”
For the proposed championship race, an estimated 2,500-3,000 bikers and their parents would be using the staging area on city-owned land, with fewer using the trails on BLM land for the race.
Hurricane City engineer Arthur LeBaron agreed with Reeves, saying it can get muddy during rain in the proposed staging area, but not several feet deep as Reeves said. He also told the council the race was originally proposed by the BLM.
Utah BLM outdoor planner Bob Wells spoke to the council next stating that Frog Hollow is a great location because the cycling association requires a 15- to 20-acre staging area.
“We don’t really have that, and it does not make sense for BLM to develop one for a single event,” Wells said.
Hall was asked if he could propose a better route for the portion of trail that runs through the lots that he rotates his cattle through. To prevent overgrazing on land that is leased to cattle owners, the ranchers rotate their stock through several government-owned pastures in the area, he said.
“Tonight is the first time that I have seen a plan,” Hall said. “Now that I look at it, there are some real possibilities if they had taken some of those trails a different way.”
The Utah Governor’s Senior Advisor for Rural Affairs and Washington County resident Stephen Lisonbee spoke of the dedicated parents who travel, sleep and dine in the cities he has traveled to with his children.
He also said that, other than water, access to outdoor recreation and bike trails are the most frequent requests from state legislators in a state that spends “tens of millions” on recreational opportunities for its residents.
“Honestly, I think Hurricane is late to the game,” he said. “Even Beaver has a trail that they have built and is on the system to be utilized this season. And when Beaver is in the game, that’s a market, right?”
The council ultimately approved a motion to meet at the Frog Hollow Basin with ranchers, dam conservationists, mountain bikers and their parents to hear concerns and possible solutions from all parties.
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