On May 29, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order revoking Executive Order 11644 (Richard Nixon, 1972) and Executive Order 11989 (Jimmy Carter, 1977). “Access to Federal lands benefits all American citizens. Rescinding Executive Order 11644 and Executive Order 11989 would facilitate the replacement of current regulations with a system for off-road vehicle use designation that provides more access, recreational opportunities, and greater multiple-use benefits to the public. It would also restore balanced land management by eliminating ill-defined and arbitrary environmental and social standards, thereby ensuring that all public land users will be granted access on equal terms”. Whitehouse.gov Link
These two executive orders were leveraged by anti-motorized access federal agencies like the BLM for 50 years to close historical access to our public lands. Without County Commissioners and State Representatives helping to protect legal public highways on our public lands, the BLM has closed down hundreds of thousands of miles of roads across the West over the past 30 years.
In Grand Junction, CO, the BLM closed over 60% of historical motorized access in 2016; over 2100 miles of motorized routes were closed. Most of these historic roads were constructed legally before October 21, 1976, and the passage of FLPMA. The Mesa County Commissioners and Garfield County Commissioners stood idle when presented with legal research that the majority of these routes were legal right-of-ways under state law (CRS 43-2-201) and federal law (RS 2477). They passed RS 2477 Resolutions (Mesa County Commissioners 2014 RS 2477 Resolution) and also in 2014 the Associated Governments of NW Colorado (AGNC RS 2477 Resolution), but in the end, they did nothing to preserve the rule of law.
This is a picture from a Grand Junction BLM Slide in 2015. 
In Dec 2014, there was hope when Garfield County Commissioners voted 3-0 to pursue RS 2477 on a route that crossed 15 miles of private lands. Under Commissioner John Martin’s leadership, Garfield County successfully reopened 50,000 acres of public land with Federal Judge Jackson’s RS 2477 ruling in 2020. The case precedence was set; however, that was the end of RS 2477 in Western Colorado.
With Trump running things and running out all the RINOS, the Republicans might have to get to work on restoring the rule of law on our federal lands. Maybe we can get Congressman Jeff Hurd to restart John Martin’s RS 2477 Congressional Bill. I was encouraged by his office’s recent support on some BLM land management issues I was having concerning violations from adjoining landowners.
I want to thank President Trump for taking public feedback seriously. The Trump Administration had an initiative with groups like the Blue Ribbon Coalition to address federal government rules and executive orders that were a problem. I submitted these two executive orders and the BLM slide that is this article’s feature picture. The Blue Ribbon Coalition has indicated this might can open the door to revisiting the thousands of illegal road closure perpetrated by the BLM be sure to sign their petition . Thanks Trumpster!