Mormon Handcart Trekkers

BLM Has Plan to Manage Boom in Mormon Handcart Trekkers
Casper, Wyoming

The Bureau of Land Management is proposing a plan to handle the growing number of people retracing the Mormon pioneer handcart trail.
The BLM plan was prompted by a special recreation application from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to allow 7,500 handcart trekkers on public lands north to the Sweetwater River.
The BLM has permitted growing numbers of Mormons to re-enact parts of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies experience for years.

Handcart treks over parts of The Mormon Trail are taken by members of the Mormon church as a way to experience the story of its pioneers.
About 300,000 pioneers followed the trail to Salt Lake City between 1846 and 1869.
Trekkers use handcarts to pull food and other supplies over The Mormon Pioneer Trail in the summer.

Interest in handcart treks increased during the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Mormon Pioneer Historic Trail in 1996.
In 1999, according to BLM officials, fewer than 1,000 people participated in LDS sponsored handcart treks, between June 10 and August 15.
By last summer, the number had grown to more than 12,000.
The LDS Church bought property at the foot of Martin's Cove in Natrona County and at another point where handcart pioneers crossed the Sweetwater River.
Trekkers brought school buses, recreation vehicles, freezer trailers and SUV s.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department voiced concerns about treks impact on wildlife.
After the initial public comment, the Lander field office will prepare an environmental assessment on the proposed plan.

Some proposals in the plan include: Proposals - Mormon Handcarts

• The Dominguez-Escalante Expeditions Journal:

Through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico in 1776

• I Walked to Zion:
- Young Pioneers on the Mormon Trail

• The Gathering of Zion:
- The Story of the Mormon Trail

• National Geographic's Guide to:
- Lewis and Clark Trail

• Hiking Historic Trails
- Utah's Favorite Hiking Trails

• Scenic Driving - Travel guides
- Scenic Driving in Utah

• Historical reading
- The Old Spanish Trail

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