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Show Not Fair Representation . . . Utah's Bureau of Land Management administration administra-tion sometimes has a difficult time realizing it isn't still strictly the Crazing Service With all due respect to those who lease the federal public lands for the purpose of raising livestock, it appears ap-pears that they have an almost exclusive hold on the "BLM State Multiple Use Advisory Board." Next week that thirty-member board will be meeting in Nephi to discuss recommndations to the BLM for management policies on public lands in Utah. On the discussion list arc a number of items, but two or three that affect the travel industry considerably are quite prominent. The group will discuss recreation impacts on the public land, and managing commercial uses of BLM-administcrcd BLM-administcrcd land, according to a news release from the State BLM office. Notably absent from the meeting and on the board, will be any representatives of commercial tour operators who have been given such a rocking the past few weeks by BLM policy decisions. Seven of the thirty board members represent what the BLM terms "Non-Livestock, Non-Wildlife Representatives." Only one of the seven represents outdoor recreation, and he is an employee of the State of Utah. It isn't very hard to predict what the decision of the advisory committee will be regarding such topics as "off-road "off-road vehicles use of public land," or "Pinyon-juniper chaining and vegetation manipulation." Unfortunately, the federal agency can proceed with decision-making, telling the public that a group of lay residents of the state assisted them with recommendations. Wc certainly don't object to the advisory Board. In fact, in the past we have urged that the federal employees pay more attention to what that Boar'd was recommending. recommend-ing. But let's face it. The deck is stacked, and it isn't fair. If laws or federal regulations determine the membership mem-bership of such an advisory board, they should be changed to include fair representation of all those who use the public lands. And until that time comes, representatives rep-resentatives of travel-connected groups should at least be invited in a non-official capacity to put in their two-bits two-bits worth. |