PHOENIX – To improve access and parking, reconstruction at the Desert Wells Multi-Use Area requires the popular off-highway-vehicle riding area to be closed starting Aug. 1 for up to 90 days, State Land Commissioner Lisa Atkins announced.
The entire Desert Wells Multi-Use Area will be closed during reconstruction, as the work involves its only entrance, near mile marker 207 on U.S. 60 southeast of Gold Canyon, Commissioner Atkins said.
The grading and leveling of the entryway and parking area is funded by grants from Arizona State Parks & Trails and the U.S. Highway Administration’s Recreational Trails Program.
Desert Wells is the only off-highway vehicle riding area with designated trails on Arizona State Trust Land. Questions about the reconstruction can be emailed to inquiry@azland.gov.
“The reconstruction is critical and necessary to help maintain access to Desert Wells for years to come,” Commissioner Atkins said. “We appreciate the patience of OHV users during the reconstruction time, as we work to improve your use of State Trust Land.”
Public education is by far the largest beneficiary of Trust land managed by the Arizona State Land Department, whose mission since 1915 is to manage the assets of a multi-generational perpetual trust in alignment with the interests of the Trust’s 13 beneficiaries and Arizona’s future.
All uses of the land and resources held in the Trust must benefit the Trust, a fact that distinguishes it from the way public land, such as parks or national forests, may be used or managed. While public use of Trust land is not prohibited, it is regulated to ensure protection of the land and its resources and compensation to the beneficiaries for its use. Today the Arizona State Land Department pro-actively manages more than 9.2 million acres of Trust land, which is 13 percent of the land within the State of Arizona.