Officials with the Bureau of Land Management are considering charging fees to enter popular Five-Mile Pass as a means of improving the area, which is a popular spot for ATV riders.

During a field tour of Five-Mile Pass last Thursday by the Bureau of Land Management’s statewide Resource Advisory Council — a panel who gives the BLM advice and recommendations on resource and land management issues — officials discussed a variety of issues, including the need to provide visitors at the recreation area with better facilities.

“What we’re trying to do is make it a much more pleasant facility for people to visit,” said Glenn Carpenter, BLM West Desert District manager. “When you consider more than 85 percent of the population in Utah is within an hour-and-a-half drive of Five-Mile Pass, it’s obvious even to the casual observer that what is there in terms of visitor facilities has not been adequate.”

Five-Mile Pass is located southwest of Lehi and close to the Tooele County border. The area is popular for camping, OHVs, ATVs, biking and equestrian use. A parking area for day users is available and plentiful dirt roads for camping. There is no water and no picnic tables or fire rings.

Carpenter said over the past few years, the type of use at Five-Mile Pass has transitioned from just weekend use to everyday use. And now there are more overnight users and those who come earlier as opposed to the past when everyday use began at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.

He said a fee-based user system could help improve and develop facilities at Five-Mile Pass, which has an estimated annual visitorship exceeding 60,000 and thousands of miles of existing trails.

“When we provide those facilities it’s not free, and what we may try to do is implement a fee system with the understanding that the fees generated go back into managing and enhancing visitor enjoyment at the location,” he said. “We talked about the fact that as soon as we have water available out there, we’ll probably start phasing in some fee consideration.”

A well location has been selected, and Carpenter said hopefully drilling will start this fiscal year.

“We don’t have funding yet for piping to popular locations where people are camping, but we’re hoping to have funding for that purpose next year,” he added.

Carpenter said they may put in developed campsites, although that wouldn’t eliminate the dispersed areas — places outside a developed campground — as he said much of the public prefers the dispersed recreation opportunities.

“We’ll probably have some developed campsites, but still continue to enjoy dispersed recreation as they do now,” he said.

A fee system, if enacted, wouldn’t go into effect until probably two years from now, according to Carpenter. The system could be similar to the Knolls Special Recreation Management Area — where user fees are $6 per vehicle or an annual pass for $40 — or even potentially be part of an all-inclusive system for all BLM fee sites within the West Desert District, which would include Little Sahara, Knolls, Clover Campground and Simpson Springs.

Russ Steadman, part-owner of Steadman’s Recreation in Tooele, said he has a split opinion on whether or not he would support a fee system at Five-Mile Pass, although he’s leaning more toward not implementing a fee.

“They already get plenty in my opinion. The OHV user gets taxed enough as it is,” Steadman said. “It’s kind of frustrating when every time you turn around you have to pay to play in these areas.”

However, Steadman added Knolls, which starting implementing a fee system last year, is a popular area with ATV enthusiasts because it does have restroom facilities.

One of the things that has already been done to improve Five-Mile Pass was the installation of four outhouses about a year ago, although Carpenter said they are still in need of more.

Carpenter said the goal with the fees would be to help Five-Mile Pass be more self-sustaining.

“We’re trying not to rely on what you might consider an uncertain budgetary climate,” he said. “It’d be more of a self-sustaining goal — although those places [like Five-Mile] aren’t entirely self-sustained — but would go a long way in helping defer maintenance and development expenses.”

swest@tooeletranscript.com