Sand Flats Recreation Area is beloved for its stunning scenery and iconic trails. Sand Flats staff, with the help of partner agencies and volunteers, are continually working to maintain and improve the area—for example, on June 1, volunteers spent a few hours doing light maintenance on the Falcon Flow singletrack bike trail. Sand Flats periodically hosts trail work events, and volunteers can earn entry passes.
Sand Flats Recreation Area Director Andrea Brand shared some of the latest improvements and projects going on at Sand Flats.
Motorcyclists and bicyclists pass each other on the trail in Sand Flats Recreation Area. [Mark Finley/Sand Flats Recreation Area]
New publications
Earlier this spring, Sand Flats produced a new informational video with the help of Finley Holiday Productions, which has made other short films for Sand Flats, including “50 Years of Slickrock” celebrating the history of the famous Slickrock bike trail. The new video covers rules, safety and etiquette in Sand Flats. It also gives background on the program’s unusual management model: the land belongs to the Bureau of Land Management, but it’s staffed and administered by Grand County employees. The area is self-sustaining—Sand Flats operations are paid for by entrance fees.
Brand thought it was time to update the introductory video, since the last one was made in the 1990s. The new film has beautiful footage of the slickrock domes and canyons of the landscape, as well as some alarming footage of a vehicle rollover during a segment on safety, and close-ups of wildlife along with Leave No Trace information. The video is on the Sand Flats website; it will also play on screens in hotel lobbies throughout town.
Each year, Sand Flats prints new copies of its 16-page visitor guide, which has information on management partnerships and the natural history of the area, maps, trail descriptions, and rules. This year, the guide also includes QR codes linking to videos and to a test required by the state for OHV users.
Scenic beauty at Sand Flats Recreation Area. [Mark Finley/Sand Flats Recreation Area]
Also being reprinted this spring is the “Flower Guide to the High Desert,” a 360-page, full-color field guide created by former Sand Flats employee Sonja Nicolaisen. The book is available at Back of Beyond Books; partial proceeds from sales go back to Sand Flats.
“It’s not just for here—you can use it all over the Colorado Plateau,” Brand noted. “It’s even got a section on grasses.”
Parking projects
This winter saw the completion of the single track bike trail system known as the Raptor Route. Earlier this spring, Sand Flats worked with the BLM to improve the parking area for the Hawk’s Glide and Kestrel Run segments of the route, filling in low spots, flattening the surface, and marking out defined parking spots.
“It just needed some TLC,” Brand said.
The parking lot at the lower end of the Falcon Flow trail also got some upgrades: a vault toilet and a concrete pad with a bike stand and bike tools.
Volunteers contribute to trail maintenance at Sand Flats Recreation Area. [Courtesy David Wilson]
Board and staff
Mark Pope will join the four-person Sand Flats Stewardship Committee as a new member. Long-serving member Dale Parriott stepped down from the role.
“We were sorry to see him go; he was a great addition to the committee,” Brand said of Parriott, a longtime Moab local and director of trail stewardship nonprofit Ride with Respect.
Brand said Pope is a hiker, biker and motorized trail user, giving him insight into all those user groups.
Sand Flats staff are maintaining and improving their skills and knowledge as well: This spring, six Sand Flats employees took a 4×4 driving class, which will help them master the trails on motorized patrols.
“It really was good for all of us,” Brand said. She participated in the class and hopes to make it available to staff every year. Sand Flats has a motorcycle, purchased this fall, as well as a UTV, purchased this spring, to use on patrols. There’s also an ebike for patrols.
“We’re fully staffed, so we’re on the trails as much as we can,” Brand said. There are 10 staff members; six are seasonal, and one is a high school apprentice. This is the first year Sand Flats has had capacity to offer the high school apprenticeship since before the COVID pandemic. Apprentices get a taste of various aspects of managing a recreation area.
“They help us in the entrance station, they help on campground patrols and backcountry patrols, with various maintenance projects, fencing and planting signs… it’s a great program,” Brand said.
Coming up
Sand Flats Recreation Area is in the process of applying for status as an official Dark Sky place. As part of that process, Sand Flats hosted stargazing programs the past two summers, and plans to hold those events again this summer.
The new vault toilet at the Falcon Flow parking lot. [Andrea Brand/Sand Flats Recreation Area]
Also on the horizon, Sand Flats has applied for a federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant, with the intention of extending the paved part of the Sand Flats Road. Brand will find out this summer if Sand Flats will be awarded the grant.
Meanwhile, staff continue to monitor and patrol Sand Flats, inform visitors, and identify improvements and changes that could help to continue to preserve the landscape and ecosystem as well as allow visitors to safely enjoy the area.
As noted, the Sand Flats budget for doing this is sustained by entrance fees. In August of last year, after an official public process, Sand Flats changed its fee structure: there’s no longer an option to buy a single-day pass, and a week pass is $10. Trailers are free; bikers and motorcyclists are $5 each; shuttle riders are $2 each. Annual passes are still $25. The new fee structure has increased the program’s overall revenue, Brand said, while still making entry affordable.
“We try to keep these public lands accessible for everybody,” she said.
An earlier version of this story misstated the trailer fee at Sand Flats Recreation Area. It is free as of 2023. -ed.
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