SWEETWATER COUNTY – A push to join two western Wyoming counties with offroad trails is moving along as support for the initiative grows.

Mark Tesoro, president of Southwest Wyoming Off-road Trails (SWOT) organization, spoke to the Sweetwater County commissioners during their meeting Tuesday.

SWOT is a nonprofit organization that seeks to create a large network of motorized offroad trails connecting towns and other unique locations. The organization views the initiative as a means of economic development for southwestern Wyoming as it can improve tourism within the area by attracting visitors and offroad enthusiasts to the trails.

“I brought the idea … of connecting the communities of southwest Wyoming with a series of motorized trails in order to bring riders into the region and see all there is to see,” Tesoro said.

It started as a means of connecting Evanston to the Bridger Valley and to Kemmerer and has since grown to work on expanding a motorized trail system throughout the state. Tesoro said the group realized early the trails would need access to city streets to allow offroad vehicles the ability to go to restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and shops as they’re driving along the trails and quickly received support from the Evanston City Council and other governing bodies. In 2022, Evanston, Kemmerer, Lyman, La Barge, Mableton, Big Piney approved ordinances to allow off road vehicles on city streets. Superior joined that group in 2023.

Tesoro said ATV use is much more open to families than it used to be because vehicles can now support multiple people and can transport an entire family in one vehicle.

“It’s really like boating on dirt,” he said.

He said the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and the Wyoming State Trails Program have been involved in the project as well. WYDOT’s involvement led to two bills being introduced to the Wyoming Legislature in 2023. House Bill 42 was a right-of-way bill to grant access to communities from state highways while Senate File 17 was a safety-focused bill for offroad vehicles. Both bills passed and were signed by Gov. Mark Gordon.

Tesoro said other states have similar trail networks, saying Garfield County in Utah reported its trail system resulted in more than $33 million from ATV enthusiasts.

“There’s just a lot of opportunity for us to get on board with something that other states have done and benefitted from,” Tesoro said.

Gene Legerski, public works director for the county, said he has been working with WYDOT to find a route across the Green River, saying there are few routes across the river and all of them involve bridges managed by WYDOT. Additionally, Legerski said another issue he has is the distances between sites in the county. He also said the county only has three county roads touching Lincoln and Uinta Counties, saying there are limited resources for routes into the county. With the passage of House Bill 42, right of way can be granted through state highway access.

“It’s a wonderful idea but working through those little things with WYDOT is the lynchpin,” Legerski said.

The commissioners are supportive of incorporating all the county roads into SWOT-designated roads.

“I think it’s a positive movement and likely one we have to take advantage of,” Chairman Keaton West said.

The commissioners verbally requested a resolution drafted to link the county’s roads with SWOT’s trails.