BLM Richfield Field Office Dispersed Camping Rules

14 days stay limit

BLM Utah statewide dispersed-camping sheet: "There is a 14-day camping limit while occupying any campsite on BLM-managed lands." The Utah sheet states no rolling window and no move distance. BLM's national camping page adds the service-wide framing - "Dispersed camping is generally limited to 14 days within any 28-day period" and after the limit "visitors must move to a new location - often at least 25 to 30 miles away" - but that is general guidance, not a Utah-specific published rule.

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

Statewide: "Free dispersed camping is allowed throughout BLM Utah-managed lands except where posted... Camp only in previously disturbed sites or areas." The office's 2008 RMP decision, as quoted in its published campground business plan: "Allow non-commercial dispersed camping without permit, throughout the RFO administered lands, unless directed by other management prescriptions." In the Factory Butte SRMA near Hanksville, "Dispersed camping is allowed in well-established camp areas within 150 feet of designated routes outside the open areas." source

Keep your distance

150 ft — Stay-close corridor rule, Factory Butte SRMA only (Henry Mountains Field Station brochure): "Dispersed camping is allowed in well-established camp areas within 150 feet of designated routes outside the open areas." Inside the three OHV open areas (Swing Arm City, Factory Butte, Caineville Cove) you may "camp wherever your truck stops." source
300 ft — Statewide BLM Utah rule: "Camp at least 300 feet from range improvements. Range improvements can include corrals, gates, livestock waters and livestock pens. 43 CFR 4140.1(b)(7) prohibits interfering with lawful range functions and can result in a citation." source
Directional statewide rule, no number stated: "Camp only in previously disturbed sites or areas. Do not dispersed camp in the vicinity of developed recreation sites such as picnic areas, campgrounds or trailheads." source
Recommended: 200 ft — BLM's national camping guidance recommends: "Stay at least 200 feet from lakes, rivers, and streams to protect water quality." No field-office-wide numeric water setback appears on the Utah pages read. source

Roads and vehicle access

Ask the district which roads allow camping

BLM travel-management equivalent of the MVUM rule. Statewide: "Only travel on designated routes. Check with local offices for off-roading information." Factory Butte SRMA: "All travel outside the designated open areas is either limited to designated routes or closed to motorized use," with dispersed-camping vehicle access limited to well-established camp areas within 150 feet of designated routes. No office-wide travel-map page verified.

Fires right now

We don't watch this office's fire orders yet — check its own site before you light anything. Here's what stage 1 and stage 2 mean when an order is up.

Closures and special orders

Factory Butte SRMA camping and travel rules (Henry Mountains Field Station brochure) No developed camping in the SRMA; camp anywhere inside the three OHV open areas, elsewhere only in well-established camp areas within 150 feet of designated routes. The Mt. Ellen-Blue Hills Wilderness Study Area borders the SRMA on the south.
Beas Lewis Flat Campground decision (near Torrey / Capitol Reef) BLM signed a decision to develop a campground of up to 45 sites at Beas Lewis Flat, a popular dispersed-camping area just east of Torrey, "to accommodate growing visitation from unmanaged dispersed camping." Construction anticipated in 2026 - expect management changes to dispersed camping there; the office's 2019 business plan states proposed campgrounds "will have a half mile radius where dispersed camping will not be allowed."
Business Plan for BLM Richfield Field Office Campgrounds (2018, approved 2019) Quotes the 2008 RMP dispersed-camping decision and describes office-wide dispersed opportunities "at Cabin Springs, Deer Creek, Sandthrax Campground, Gunnison Reservoir, and any other existing dispersed camping disturbances within 150 feet [of] a BLM designated road excluding wilderness study areas."

How to read these rules

Dispersed camping means camping outside a developed campground — no fee, no table, no toilet, no water. You pick an already-used spot, pack out everything you brought, and the rules above are the whole deal you're agreeing to. The stay limit counts the way the card says it counts, not the way it counts on the forest next door: some places count per spot, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and moving a short distance often doesn't restart the clock.

Distance rules come in two shapes. Keep-away rules ("at least 100 feet from water") protect the thing you're camping near; stay-close rules ("within 300 feet of the road") keep vehicles on ground that can take them. A line marked recommended on the card is the office's guidance, not an order — the rest are enforceable rules, and a posted sign at the site beats everything on this page.

On BLM land the travel maps play the same role a national forest's motor vehicle use map plays: they show which routes are open to vehicles, and camping access usually means staying on those routes and pulling into already-used sites just off them.

Fires are a separate rule with a separate clock. Nothing on this page says you can light one — the card's fire line says where that answer lives today. If a fire is allowed when you get there, buy your wood near camp — hauling firewood from home is how tree-killing pests reach new forests, and the BTU chart says what that local bundle is actually worth.