RS-2477: What is it?

Jody Czapla

Hello all. I am Jody and I am going to be trying to help out here and inform all of you about Land Use Issues. Sound like something to read to put you to sleep? Well, some of it is. But, if you fall asleep reading it then you will at some time in the future be using that 4 wheel drive that you have built as a bed because that is all it will be good for. We are in a fight to keep roads and areas open for all to enjoy and without knowing what is going on, you are the biggest danger to your sport.

Okay. I have said enough. It is up to you if you want to read on or not. I can tell you that both my husband and I drive. My husband has a 79 Jeep CJ-7 with custom paint 4:56 gears, Moser rear axles, Ox-Trax in the front and ARB in the rear, 9 inches of total lift, and 35x12.5 Dunlop tires. The inside of the tub is Rhino coated, the engine is an old and tired 304 that when it starts, smokes so bad we kill bugs in the next county. It also has a dog painted on the side that likes to relieve himself on you.

I, on the other hand, went the larger route (we have 3 kids someone has to haul around on the trail). My rig is a 1977 Cherokee Chief (that’s right, the big box of a 2 door). It has 4 inches of lift, 33x9.5 tires Loc-Rite in the rear and the transfer case has the low range which is almost like being locked up front. The paint on this one is original rust and gray but I do have a rebuilt 360 engine in the thing that gets me where ever I want to go and some places I should never be. Believe it or not, if a vehicle has heart that would be this one. While doing a trail with it, I popped a tire and had to back up to try to fix it. Sparks came shooting out from under it when it tried to go into reverse. The bell housing was cracked so bad we could see daylight through it. My spare for some reason wasn't along on that trip so we borrowed a 35x12.5 off my husbands Jeep and put it on took out the front lock out and got the thing home 30 miles away. The thing held together that long. When we went to work on it, all we had to do was to remove the cross member and everything fell out; but, it never let me down and got me home.

So, you see I don't just pretend to care about the trails. I do care about the trails, because I use them as well.

Now for the boring part.....let’s talk about the law RS-2477. This is a law that was put on the books in 1866 and reaffirmed by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in 1976.

This is the law that the "greenies" are using to try to stop us from doing what we love to do. The law is a right-of-way law that states "the right of way for the construction of highways across public lands not otherwise reserved for public purposes is hereby granted". The FLPMA stated no new right of way agreements would be entered into but that all prior agreements would continue to be valid.

This is a law that in human terms says, if a road was built prior to 1976, it can stay there. In fact, RS-2477 right-of-way can host a number of things besides roads. The legal definition of "highway" in the law means not only the often traveled and sometime maintained roads but also other kinds of public ways including carriage-ways, bridle-ways, footways, trails, bridges, and even railroads, canals, ferries, and rivers. To make it short, “HIGHWAY” is whatever the means of transport, the public has the right to come and go at will.

The condition of a road has nothing to do with whether a valid RS-2477 right of way exists. This is the point the anti-access folks are misrepresenting. Whether a road is barely visible on the ground, or has been obliterated for any other reason, the legal status of the right of way in not affected. The person who was granted the right of way can legally reestablish the road even if it has totally disappeared.

A valid RS-2477 road can be established merely by the passage of vehicles. Case law and federal policy for over a century are clear: construction by machinery is not required to create a highway. Anti-access people and groups are trying to convince the public otherwise; so don't be mislead.

No federal land management agency can determine the validity of an RS-2477 assertion. The agency can only determine for its own administrative purposes whether or not it will recognize the assertion as valid. Constitutionally, only the court can determine the validity.

No federal agency has the authority to close an RS-2477 road for any reason, period. This follows logically but many federal bureaucrats think they have this authority and try to act accordingly. When you find someone claiming this authority, outline the points listed here and ask them to cite the legal authority by which they claim they can close an RS-2477 road. This ought to tie them into knots.

Well, that was the part that you might have fallen asleep over. I hope not because your keyboard doesn't need you drooling into it. I hope some of you fine something you can use in here to help with the fight to keep our trails open to everyone.

Lets keep fighting and keep working together to maintain our outdoors for all to enjoy.