The Alliance of Backcountry Parachutists on July 8 scored a victory in its bid to gain access to Utah state parks when it convinced the Utah Board of Parks and Recreation to table a motion to further restrict jumping - and to open a dialogue with jumpers.

"We couldn't have asked for anything more," said ABP spokesman Jason Dawson, who presented an Alliance brief to the board. "We got to at least start the process, get our opinions on the table, and see where they're going. Now they are going to appoint a staff member to start working on a management process to determine the appropriateness of jumping in their parks, with input from us."

Dawson was joined at the meeting near Salt Lake City by the ABP's Tom Aiello and several local jumpers, including Matt Wimmer and Annie Taylor, both of whom answered site-specific questions from board members.

"It was great," said Dawson. "We were going to be a 10-minute agenda item and we ended up being there for an hour." After listening to the ABP presentation and comments from Wimmer and Taylor, the Board decided not to take action at Snow Canyon State Park near St. George, where managers wanted the Board to formally prohibit jumping. At the same time, the board reaffirmed that parachuting in all state parks fell within its powerless flight statutes and, as such, remained prohibited without obtaining a special use permit.

Dawson said the first questions asked about liability and jumper qualifications, which he answered by referring the board to the ABP brief, which advocated patterning backcountry parachuting regulations after the climbing regulations that currently exist in relevant units.

"That way they're dealing with a known system in which liability and qualification issues have already been successfully addressed - and it worked. They really understood how using the rock climbing model instead of the aviation model is probably the best way to go."

Dawson said it also helped that the new deputy director and one of the board members used to skydive and thus understood the sport and knew it could be done in the parks.

"We'll start coordinating immediately with Utah officials to develop the review process and create channels for jumper input," Dawson added. "It was a great start."