OCR Text |
Show BLM reorganization plan proposed to area residents A Bureau of Land Management reorganization plan, based on a 1974 general study of the bureau in Utah, would realign district boundaries, boun-daries, consolidate the bureau's eight district offices into four, and strengthen the field level personnel force by adding new-resource new-resource skills at key locations. The proposal is now being discussed with the public in Utah, according to Paul L. Howard, BLM state director for Utah. Public comment will be accepted through February 28, 1975. At that time, the proposal will be analyzed further and presented to officials in Washington, D.C. Comments should be sent to the State Director, Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 11505, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111. Prime attention is being given to make BLM districts coincide with multi-county planning regions of the state, so as to facilitate coordination with state and local government units, according to Mr. Howard. BLM district offices under the proposal would be located at Salt Lake City, Cedar City, Richfield, and Price, where key centers for other federal and state agencies already exist. Present BLM offices at Fillmore, Kanab, Monticello and Vernal would not be closed but continued as area offices under the jurisdiction of the districts. Area managers would have immediate jurisdiction for most programs in their area. The bureau employs 300 permanent personnel in Utah to manage the natural resources programs on 23 million acres, or about 43 percent of the state acreage, according to Mr. Howard. Greatly increased emphasis on energy development develop-ment in Utah involving oil shale, coal fields, oil and gas leasing, power site proposals 'at Kaiparowits, IJmery, Cainville, Warner Valley, Escalante, and related facilities have created new demands and a need for organizational change in land management, he said. Though faced with additional efforts in these new programs, increasing attention must also be given to other public programs including livestock grazing, outdoor recreation, wildlife habitat, watershed management and fire protection, the BLM state director added. The responsibility for making natural resources available for utilization, yet assuring protection of the environmental values, requires a highly skilled group of resource specialists, including such professions as geologists, biologists, economists and sociologists, he said. The Bureau's plan is to decentralize more of the on-the-ground work to the district and area managers and provide them with the skills to get the job done If the plan is approved in Washington, implementation would begin around July 1. The reorganization would be spread over a one year period so that work production would not be unduly slowed down and disruptions to personnel and the affected communities would be minimal. |