Trail closures threaten livelihoods and slowly limit access to ordinary families, says Dave Hellman, owner of Xtreme 4×4 Tours in Moab. Wilderness advocates argue that stronger protections are necessary to preserve fragile landscapes. As lawsuits reshape trail access across southern Utah, Moab increasingly sits at the center of a growing conflict over who public lands are really for.

Eight hundred years ago, a culture that had endured for centuries largely vanished from Utah’s archaeological record. Their abandoned granaries, changing pottery and unfamiliar moccasins offer clues—but no simple answer.