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Show BLM Will Create National Regs For OHV Use On Public Lands The Bureau of Land Management Manage-ment has announced it will develop a national strategy for ensuring environmentally en-vironmentally responsible Off-Highway Off-Highway Vehicle use on BLM-managed BLM-managed roads. Working in partnership with all interested parties and the general public, the BLM will develop the strategy to address land management issues prompted by the growing popularity of OHV use. "The strategy we will develop is aimed at recognizing the interests of OHV users while protecting environmentally envi-ronmentally sensitive areas on the public lands," said BLM Acting Director Di-rector Tom Fry. "The strategy will also enable the BLM to spend scarce funding resources on man aging OHV use rather than on OHV-related litigation, protests, appeals ap-peals and Freedom of Information Act requests. "Our agency is developing this strategy at a time when Westerners recognize the crucial role that BLM lands play in maintaining the appeal ap-peal and lifestyle of their fast-growing, fast-growing, fast-changing region," Fry said. "Now more than ever, the public pub-lic is turning to BLM-managed land as the final frontier for wide open space, as an outdoor recreational playground and as a sanctuary from the stresses of urban life," he said. "The OHV management strategy strate-gy will recognize the importance of each of these values," said Henri Besson, the BLM's assistant director direc-tor for Planning and Renewable Resources Re-sources who will lead the agency's effort in crafting the national OHV strategy. "The strategy to be developed will reflect substantial input from OHV user groups, environmental organizations, state and local agencies agen-cies and the general public," Bisson said. OHV's and other forms of recreational rec-reational transportation sport utility vehicles, motorcycles and mountain bikes are more popular pop-ular than ever before. Much of this use is occurring on BLM-managed lands that, as a (See BLMOHV on page 3-A) BLMOHV From Front Page result of urban sprawl, are nearby or even adjacent to numerous communities com-munities and subdivisions. These communities are both convenient to and affected by activities on BLM lands, adding to the complexity of the Bureau's land-management decisions. deci-sions. Moreover, OHV use is taking place on land designated by the BLM as "open" to cross-country travel based on land-management plans that the Bureau drew up in the 1970's and 1980's when OHV use was comparatively small. These land-management plans are outdated not only because of increased OHV use, but also because be-cause of the rise in the number of threatened and endangered species found on BLM lands. In fact, the number of threatened and endangered species of animals and plants on BLM lands rose from more than 50 in 1982 to nearly 300 in 1997. What is more, the BLM's budget-related resources including includ-ing the number of recreational specialists spe-cialists and law enforcement personnel per-sonnel have not kept pace with the past decade's growth in OHV use. All of these factors, plus litigation liti-gation on OHV management issues, iss-ues, have created the need for a national na-tional management strategy. The BLM, and agency of the U.S. Department of. the Interior, manages more land 264 million surface acres than any other federal fed-eral agency. Most of this public land is located lo-cated in 12 Western states, including includ-ing Alaska. The Bureau, which has a budget of $1.2 billion and a workforce of about 9,000 employees, also administers ad-ministers more than 560 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM preserves open space by managing the public lands for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mining by conserving natural, historical, his-torical, cultural and other resources found on the public lands. |