The rugged Zen Trail in St. George, Utah, is renowned as one of the best mountain bike trails in the Desert Southwest. Zen and its connected trails see a constant flow of mountain bikers every day of the week, and the network also plays host to the annual True Grit mountain bike endurance race.
Unfortunately, the bottom of this iconic trail has just been bulldozed to make way for a housing development — and the rest of the trail could soon follow.
We reported on a threat to the Zen Trail in November 2024, and a recent Instagram reel from The Desert Rat shows that construction is underway in the area and that the last half mile of the trail has been bulldozed.
And this might just be the beginning.
Why is this land being developed?
In the reel, Supe Lillywhite, manager of The Desert Rat outdoor store in St. George, said, “Somebody owns this, or some corporation owns this, they’re going to build houses on it. And it’s their property. It’s not mine. As far as I understand, they can do that.”
According to a report from local news organization KUER.org, the current construction is the Divario housing development, which is being built on a privately-owned 388-acre parcel of land.
Divario’s website says the development “is surrounded by natural canyons with vistas of Snow Canyon National Park and back dropped by the Pine Valley Mountain.” The developer specifically calls out the trails on this beautiful land as one of its top attractions, including “numerous natural canyons [like] the Gap Wash Canyon and the Bear Claw Poppy Trail area, which together have been a local secret to hiking, biking and climbing enthusiasts.”
How ironic that Divario is using the natural recreation amenities to appeal to investors and potential homeowners while simultaneously bulldozing the best mountain bike trail in the region.
“As far as I know, we didn’t have any input on this [with] the city when they were approving this development here; they didn’t ask any of the local recreational users of these areas what they thought about these trails being used,” said Lillywhite. “The city didn’t seek out any public comment that I know of on these trails being lost.”
Access to the Zen Trail will purportedly be retained
According to St. George Mayor Michele Randall, the city plans to reroute the sections of the Zen Trail that are currently being bulldozed to make way for the housing development.
According to KUER, “The Divario development has also set aside land for a new city park near the existing trailhead. The city confirmed it plans to proceed with building a park there and said it will incorporate trailheads for both the Zen Trail and the Green Valley Gap rock climbing area.”
While locals are understandably upset about the development, it appears that riders will still be able to access the bulk of the trail after the development concludes.
It honestly kind of makes me feel sick.
Supe Lillywhite, The Desert Rat
What about the rest of the Zen Trail?
As Lillywhite shares in his reel, housing development could potentially run all the way to the top of the ridge, obliterating the Zen Trail in its entirety. “If SITLA develops their land up there, not only this portion of the Zen Trail, but everything up above will go away too,” said Lillywhite. “It honestly kind of makes me feel sick.”
Lillywhite mentioned “SITLA,” the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, aka the “Utah State Trust.” Frankly, the patchwork of land ownership in the area is confusing. While the land currently being developed is already owned by Divario, according to the latest reports, SITLA has not yet sold the 6,813-acre property known as Zone 6, which is directly adjacent to the Divario property and includes the rest of the Zen Trail.
The threat to Zone 6 is specifically what we covered in 2024. Zone 6 of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve — aka the Greater Moe’s Valley — was listed for sale by the Utah State Trust, which is tasked with generating revenue for public schools through land sales and resource extraction.
The timing of this sale isn’t coincidental — it’s all tied up in the politically charged saga of the proposed Northern Corridor Highway. Back in 2021, federal agencies approved a controversial 4.5-mile highway through part of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, and Zone 6 was added to the conservation area as compensation for the land that would be lost to the highway. But when federal agencies put the highway plan on hold in 2023 to review environmental impacts, local leaders and the state essentially said, “If the highway doesn’t happen, Zone 6 is open for business.”
“We don’t want to see Zone 6 developed — ever,” Mayor Randall said. “We hope that it stays open space.” As of early September, Randall’s best understanding is that the state does not currently plan to develop the Zone 6 parcel. However, the protection of that parcel still may be contingent upon the Northern Corridor Highway being approved, which city leaders support but environmentalists oppose.
While the Divario land is set for development, Zone 6 can still be saved
The Divario development was approved decades ago, and there’s no stopping it now. But it sounds like all will not be lost, as the development plans to set aside land for public trail access.
However, as Lillywhite said in his reel, “The point that I want to make here is that this is going to keep happening.” Even if this development is completely legal, St. George’s continued urban sprawl threatens to gobble up the region’s renowned outdoor recreation opportunities. While massive new trail systems like Cliffrose have come online in recent years, local riders and visitors alike still don’t want to lose access to famous gems like the Zen Trail.
1 Comments
3 minutes ago