Matt Petersen is one of the Utah Cultural Site Stewardship program’s amazing volunteers! UCSS staff were lucky enough to get to spend some time with Matt this month, both out at the Book Cliffs and at the 3rd Annual Ride Back in Time event. Let’s get to know one of the dedicated stewards who make this program great!
Matt comes to us from Orem, Utah, and has a great love for Utah’s mountains and outdoors. He enjoys exploring Utah on the road by motorcycle or ATV. Generally, he says, he goes out ATVing a few times a month — he was even out camping when we called for this interview!
Matt’s ATVing is actually what brought him to UCSS. Program Coordinator Ian Wright and Operations Coordinator Lexi Little gave a presentation about the program to the Utah ATV Association that caught his interest: x
“I’m always interested in historical places,” Matt explained. “Mines and ranches, and just anything that has to do with our past. It spoke to me at the meeting.”
The rest, like the sites UCSS stewards, is history. Matt has been a member of the program for over a year, was placed for the first time in early 2024, and recently began stewarding additional sites in the remote Book Cliffs area (keep an eye out for Matt’s recent cameo appearance on our Instagram page!).
He has also been a huge help with our most recent event, the Ride Back in Time, serving as the leader. The Ride Back in Time is an OHV event organized by UCSS, the Division of Outdoor Recreation, Utah’s OHV program, and several local supporting partners. The Ride gives Utah’s recreationalists an opportunity to get to know the history of the outdoors they spend time in by riding to and learning about historical points of interest. Recreationalists like Matt can become site stewards as well, giving them the opportunity to help safeguard the cultural resources in the areas they recreate in. Volunteering through UCSS is a way to not only explore Utah’s history, but also to help better safeguard it: “just doing my little part to improve life,” as Matt says.
As the leader of the Ride, Matt was the front of the pack. He had the responsibility of blazing the trail for the other vehicles, previewing the route, keeping the Ride moving smoothly, and making sure the participants knew what to expect from the day and all needed safety precautions.
“Matt was an excellent choice as the leader for the Ride,” Operations Coordinator Lexi Little said. “Not only is he passionate about learning the history, he truly cared about making sure that everything went smoothly.”
With Matt leading, the day went well for everyone. “He’s always a fun person to have around,” Lexi added. “Everyone from the Tri-State ATV Club that we partnered with enjoyed having him there!”
From Matt’s perspective, his favorite part of the Ride was “[b]eing able to see parts of our history and learn about these places.” He added that he’s “passed them in the past, but never really knew the story behind them… Being able to… actually hear the story, why these places are there and what happened; it’s just so interesting to me.”
We’re so glad to have someone like Matt, who is passionate about Utah’s history and excited to learn more, as a UCSS steward. His leadership, knowledge, patience, and flexibility are great assets, and we can’t thank him enough for all his hard work!
Above: Matt, being fun to have around and looking great!