Could tie into future OHV permitting system
The city of Sedona and the U.S. Forest Service have been awarded a $750,000 grant through Arizona State Parks and Trails’ Off-Highway Vehicle Competitive Grant Program to nearly double the size of the Broken Arrow Trailhead from 2.5 to 4.93 acres. According to Sedona Public Works Director Kurt Harris, the city sponsored the USFS’s grant application.
Construction likely will start in the second half of 2027 Harris previously said, when the Sedona City Council Approved the grant application during its Aug. 26 meeting. Improvements include constructing a vault toilet, a wider paved entrance and additions to improve the flow of traffic at the trailhead, along with a gate to be constructed on FSR 179F, and another near the intersection of Morgan Road.
The project is 100% grant funded and the city has no financial responsibility for the project and “will not incur any direct costs related to project implementation,” the Aug. 26 council packet reads.
“Right now we just need to sign, get that signed and sealed, and then work with USFS on the work order, and then get some design documents pulled together and get that out to bid,” Harris said. “Once it gets to bid, then we’ll probably bring that to the City Council for approval [in a couple of months]. … The Forest Service was awarded the grant from Arizona State Parks, but the city is going to project manage the grant.”
“Broken Arrow is the site of the first commercially guided vehicle tour in the area, starting in 1960,” the March 28, 2025, Forest Service Decision Memo reads. “Since then, this road has remained a favorite amongst OHVs, including privately owned vehicles, guided vehicle tours, and rented OHVs. Pink Jeep Adventure Tours currently holds the only USFS permit for guided vehicle tours in the Broken Arrow Basin. Pink Jeep maintains the roads within Broken Arrow Basin, empties the trash bin at the trailhead, and uses a maintenance yard — a small area adjacent to the trailhead — to store equipment and materials.”
The trailhead redesign includes the installation of at least one gate, with a second potential gate that could be used as part of the infrastructure of a USFS permitting system that is years out. A gate near the Morgan Road entrance would allow officials to close the area during emergencies, fire restrictions or bad weather when road conditions could become dangerous or cause damage.
“A second gate was authorized and could be installed in the future past the parking lot entrance and used both for road closures or as a strategy to manage vehicle use entering Broken Arrow Basin in a way that supports visitor safety and protects natural resources,” USFS Fire Communication Specialist Ivan Diego Knudsen wrote. “This gate is not currently anticipated to be constructed.”
Red Rock Ranger District Ranger Alex Schlueter more explicitly explained to City Council how the infrastructure could be part of greater local OHV regulation of potential limited entry, limited access permit system at Broken Arrow on July 8, 2025, as part of an update with the ad-hoc group the Great Sedona Recreation Collaborative.
“The design also includes a gate at the back end of the trail head that would be included if and when we get to a permit system so that is included in the design, so it’ll be authorized to be put in,” he said. “We would not actually purchase and place a gate until we get to that point that we think a permit system is justified and have gone through that process, but it will be there, ready to go if and when we make that decision.”
A permit system for OHV users at Broken Arrow would have to go through the National Environmental Policy Act and be completed by the Coconino National Forest and is typically an extensive multiyear process, though some data required data collection such as vehicle counts has been collected.
