CALL TO ACTION: SAN RAFAEL SWELL TRAVEL MANAGEMENT PLAN
We need your help to preserve Utah’s scenic backcountry airstrips. Due to the 2017 lawsuit settlement with an environmental group, the BLM is obligated to revise 13 Travel Management Plans (TMPs) in Utah. Each requires public comment periods. RAF Utah Liaison Wendy Lessig says, “Please hang in there and keep sending your comments. Every voice counts.”
Draft San Rafael Swell TMP comment period closes July 22, 2024.
The 5 airstrips in the San Rafael Swell TMP area are:
Hidden Splendor
Cliff Dweller Flat
McKay Flat
- These three airstrips were listed in the 2008 Price Resource Management Plan (RMP). It says these airstrips cannot be closed without formally consulting with the FAA and pilot user groups. The BLM is proposing to limit use at these airstrips to aircraft only.
Sagebrush Bench
- This airstrip is overgrown and doesn’t get as much use. The BLM is under pressure to close motorized vehicle routes that are disused and overgrown.
Gilson’s Butte
- This is an airstrip that was just recently identified, and is in a spectacular setting to enjoy primitive camping under dark skies. The BLM has not had a chance yet to perform the necessary studies to formally approve its use as an airstrip.
Talking Points – Your comments should be substantive and provide the BLM with new information or new perspectives they had not considered before. In your own words, tell the BLM what access to the backcountry airstrips means to you.
- Thank the BLM for considering Hidden Splendor, Cliff Dweller Flat, McKay Flat, and Sagebrush Bench airstrips in the TMP. Ask the BLM to please include these four airstrips as open designated airstrips in the final TMP alternative selected.
- Please include Gilson’s Butte airstrip in the TMP, either in the current revision of the TMP or as soon as possible thereafter.
- Tell the BLM that as pilots, we support limiting use of airstrips to aircraft only, but are open to allowing combined use with other OHVs. Signage requesting that OHVs not drive on landing surface (runway) would minimize ruts and would make combined use safer.
- Aircraft meet the definition of an OHV and should continue to access the same designated routes that are open to other OHVs. Ask the BLM to please avoid language in the TMP that restricts aircraft to only landing on designated airstrips.
- Aircraft are the lightest impact motorized access to Utah’s spectacular backcountry.
- Ask the BLM to not eliminate access to an airstrip because of encroaching vegetation. Pilot organizations, such as the RAF and Utah Back Country Pilots (UBCP) regularly rally volunteers to perform airstrip maintenance to make them safer for use. Airstrips are already previously-disturbed areas, and with a day or two of work, most airstrips can be adequately maintained.
- Aircraft noise within the San Rafael Swell TMP area is short term and transient. Once on the ground, pilots and their passengers value the peaceful, quiet tranquility of the Utah backcountry for dispersed primitive camping, similar to hikers and backpackers.
Your comments should be personal and tell the BLM what access to the backcountry airstrips means to you, to making memories with your friends and family, enjoying backcountry environment while making a very light footprint on the land.
Simply use this button to comment by July 22, 2024:
Above photo by Wendy Lessig of Hidden Splendor.
Posted in News
Recent Posts
“The only people who can change something are the ones who really want to. And not everybody does.” When I read this, it took me back to the early days of the RAF. We saw a troubling trend taking place — the loss of airstrips across the country with no real organized voices to help put the brakes on the decline. And we really wanted to change that. Change demanded new ideas from us. Ideas that we assumed would initially be resisted. This defined our purpose. Good ideas come with the burden of effort and purpose. That separates those with a strong purpose from those without. We wanted to create an organization that would counteract the attrition of backcountry airstrips we saw taking place. We rolled up our sleeves and didn’t look back. Easy to say now that the RAF was lucky, but it was purpose that drove the organization in the early years; that really formed who we are today. A group of people with a purpose who knew we needed more people who thought like we did, and cared; people who took this idea called the RAF and added to it, keeping it unique but effective. We felt that most of the existing business models in the nonprofit space were not what we needed to be, and we pushed forward persistently with our thinking – thinking that required putting our own personal desires aside and pursuing ones that were for a greater good. You joined in. You, too, found purpose in the RAF and now look where we are. Nearly 15,000 of us are making the necessary sacrifices to make our voices heard, to create a better environment for the future of recreational aviation. We have more opportunities today because of you. Each one of us is important to continue the momentum we have gained. To determine what the RAF can do to further our mission to preserve, improve, and create airstrips for recreational access. To prioritize the many opportunities coming our way. It is about us, and what we are going to do with the time we have left on this earth. This organization will hopefully give you purpose now and in the future. Most importantly, I really hope it will give you as much sense of accomplishment as it has me. Thank you for what you continue to do. - John McKenna, RAF Chairman Submitted April 15, 2026
FEATURING: THE RAF DOG COLLECTION MODELED BY JOSIE & MUD Outfit your four-legged co-pilot for every adventure! From airplane rides to backcountry trails, this collection has everything they need to travel in comfort and style. Featuring two new additions—a stainless steel Orvis dog bowl and DawgMuffs—alongside RAF favorites like the collar, leash, and bandana. This collection includes items designed and created by RAF supporters. Shop the Dog Collection here. If you have questions, please email contact@theraf.org or call 406-582-1723. Your RAF Outfitter purchase is greatly appreciated and furthers the mission to preserve, improve, and create airstrips for recreational access. You can support the RAF mission all year by shopping at the RAF Outfitter online store. Products are being added regularly, and items are thoughtfully selected for durability and suitability for pilots, by pilots. We welcome photos of supporters using RAF gear! Please send your images to ewhite@theraf.org , and let us know if we have permission to post them on social media or our website. Submitted April 5, 2026.
Call To Action Volunteer
As you're planning your 2026 flying adventures, remember to review safety briefings for the airstrips you plan to visit. The RAF strongly recommends you review safety briefings and print a copy to have in your airplane - it's even required to fly into some airfields, like Ryan Field (2MT1). For those airfields, pilots flying in are required to review the briefing on an annual basis, and now is the perfect time to catch up on any changes to the runway/area that happened throughout the winter. You can find safety briefings on the RAF Airfield Guide . If an airfield in the Airfield Guide has a required briefing, the airfield listing will clearly indicate it and have a tab to view the briefing. Submitted March 30, 2026 Photo By Jim Stevenson
RAF Texas volunteers and Ranger Airfield Foundation volunteers helped begin restoration of the historic 1928 Ranger Airfield hangar on March 28. “A Wright biplane landed here at the field in 1911, and people have been using it ever since,” Ranger Airfield Foundation Founder Jared Calvert said. He noted that Amelia Earhart landed there in a Pitcairn Auto Gyro. Richard Bach, Pancho Barnes, and General Patton also landed at the field. It’s the oldest continuously used turf field in Texas.
