Washington County Recreation Access Coalition (RAC)

The start of the Washington County Recreation Access Coalition (RAC) goes back to the ongoing threat to the Greater Moe’s Valley Area.

In 2024, the risk of much of Greater Moe’s being sold for development by its land owner, the Utah Trust Land’s Administration, became a serious possibility again. Which would be a devastating loss for recreationalists all over the world. Rock climbers, mountain bikers and hikers have enjoyed this area for decades. World famous trails including the Bear Claw Poppy and Zen Trails would be significantly impacted by development. The famous climbing areas Moe’s Valley, Super Mario Land and large portions of the Green Valley Gap could also be lost.

As the fight over the future of this area (which we won’t get into here) continued, local recreationalists increasingly felt like they were being left out of the conversation.

So we got together and decided to do something about it.

Local businesses like The Desert Rat, Rapid Cycling, Red Rock Bicycles and more connected with organizations like the Trail Alliance of Southern Utah, Southern Utah Climber’s Alliance and the St George Climber’s Coalition. We started learning more about the issues affecting Greater Moe’s, and then we started talking to organizations with influence over the future of the area, including Conserve Southwest Utah, The Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, Washington County, the Utah Trust Lands Administration and St George City.

We used our influence to encourage people to attend City Council meetings, County Commissioner meetings, and to write letters to local officials encouraging them to find ways to protect Greater Moe’s.

As we continued our work, we learned about issues affecting other beloved open space and recreation areas in Washington County. And we realized that if we didn’t start standing up for these places there is a significant risk many of them could be lost forever.

Fast forward to now (August of 2026) and we are working regularly with the following organizations:

• Washington County
• St George City
• The Utah Trust Land’s Administration
• The Bureau of Land Management
• Utah Open Lands
• Stewardship Utah
• The Access Fund
• The Southern Utah Homebuilders Association
• Conserve Southwest Utah
• Snow Canyon State Park
• Trail Association of Southern Utah
• Southern Utah Climber’s Alliance
• St George Climber’s Coalition
• Backcountry Horsemen of Utah
• The Audubon Society
• Dark Sky advocates
• Local ATV and UTV users

Progress has definitely been made. Probably our biggest success is that we now have different organizations talking to each other, and we are making sure that the wishes of recreationalists are being included or at least listened to when decisions are being made. Beyond Greater Moe’s, we are now working on protecting and maintaining access to a multitude of areas including:

• Garth Rocks
• Canyoneering routes in Snow Canyon and the Red Mountain Wilderness
• Climbing areas and mountain bike trails in the Utah Hills
• Archeological sites throughout Washington County.

And we can always use your help. The best way to get involved is to join and support the organizations that we work with. You can find a link to those organizations here – https://wcrecaccess.org/how-to-contact-us-and-get-involved/

Thanks for everything all of you do and your desire to help us protect open space and recreation in Washington County!