By Jennifer Dobner

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) – Federal agents have launched a damage inspection of protected archeological sites in southern Utah where public-lands activists on all-terrain vehicles staged a weekend protest ride challenging the prolonged government closure of a canyon trail.

Undercover agents from the Bureau of Land Management monitored the Recapture Canyon rally and documented cases in which ATV riders broke the law by venturing into an area off-limits to motorized use, BLM spokeswoman Megan Crandall said on Tuesday.

“At the end of the BLM’s investigation, all evidence will be referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for potential civil or criminal action,” she said.