Lawmakers to review off-highway vehicle audit and Great Salt Lake projects Oct. 20
The Legislature’s natural resources budget subcommittee meets Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. An audit found OHV law enforcement costs up 185% over five years while trail maintenance spending held steady at about $4 million.
Continuing story: Saving the Great Salt Lake
The Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee meets Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 8:30 a.m. in Room 210 of the Senate Building. The meeting can be watched online through the committee’s page. [1]
The agenda lists an audit of off-highway vehicle funds, budget follow-ups on two Great Salt Lake projects, the state’s air quality dust monitoring network and the Utah Energy Council. [1]
Off-highway vehicle money
A June legislative audit found that off-highway vehicle off-highway vehicle law enforcement costs appear to have increased 185% in the last five years. The audit says some of that increase reflects better tracking: rangers no longer split their time between park management and law enforcement, and the Department of Natural Resources consolidated law enforcement into one division in January 2025. The Division of Outdoor Recreation also grew from five rangers to 15 by 2025, and raised salaries. [2]
Trail maintenance spending has remained steady since 2022 at about $4 million a year, the audit found, though the OHV Advisory Council has been concerned that enforcement costs come at trails’ expense. [2]
Auditors recommended that the division regularly report OHV budget and cost details to the council, keep working with lawmakers on snowmobile registration fees, which the audit calls a policy decision for the Legislature, and keep refining its grant management, including outcome measures and inspections. Utah’s resident snowmobile fee is $26, lower than in Colorado, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming. [2][3]
Great Salt Lake and dust monitoring
The subcommittee is scheduled to hear funding follow-up reports on the Great Salt Lake split-season lease project and Great Salt Lake aquifer restoration, along with the Cove-East Fork Virgin River watershed project and transient room tax amendments, and a separate item on the dust monitoring network. The agenda does not list amounts or proposed actions for those items. [1]
The subcommittee is also scheduled to vote in its 2026 accountable budget process and approve line-item performance measures. [1]
Sources
- Utah Legislature · Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee agenda, Oct. 20, 2026
- Office of the Legislative Auditor General · Report 2026-14, A Performance Audit of Off-Highway Vehicle Funds (June 2026)
- Office of the Legislative Auditor General · OHV audit presentation to the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee (Aug. 19, 2026)
Reporting by The Utah Ledger from the public records above. AI-assisted, checked against those records.