OPINION
BLM 3.0 - SEISMIC
SHIFT IN BLM PUBLIC LAND POLICY
Nobody in the OHV public land policy arena supports
conservation of federal lands to protect natural resources - while still
providing access to environmentally sound multiple-use recreation – more than I. A lot of that support includes active participation
on trail stewardship, restoration of lands damaged by illegal OHV use, and
pre-fire fuel reduction and post-fire recovery projects.
Most, if not all, of those projects are done in
collaboration with the Forest Service, BLM, agency partners, and volunteers
with grant support from the powersports industry and the California State Parks
OHV Grant Program.
The proposed 2023 BLM planning rule redefines the term Conservation,
creates Conservation leases managed by private sector interests, and emphasizes
Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) as the sole designation for
protecting important natural, cultural, and scenic resources.
Conservation is a key element of land management today
that protects natural resources and also provides sustainable recreation for
OHV and other activities that families enjoy.
Traditional Conservation includes maintaining trails to reduce soil
loss, restoration, and post-fire recovery. However, under this rule proposal Conservation
efforts would be restricted to “protection” and “restoration.”
The proposed rule would direct BLM staff to identify and
mitigate “disturbances” and restore the land to its natural state. Authorized officers would be required to
avoid authorizing any use of the public lands that permanently impairs
ecosystem resilience. Staff would also be
directed to review and mitigate OHV and other recreation uses at designated
intensive use areas such as the BLM Fort Sage OHV Area in California and the BLM
Knolls OHV Area in Utah.
The new mitigation hierarchy would be to avoid, minimize, and compensate for impacts to all public land resources.
The new concept of private sector managed Conservation
leases on BLM lands is also troubling for OHV access since the strict
prohibition of OHV activity is a core tenet of most, if not all, private, state,
and federal conservation lease plans and programs.
Many recreation and other multiple-use interests objected
to the BLM’s 2017 2.0 Planning Rule because it created a vague set of hard to
follow or implement standards that would have resulted in confusion, chaos and a
loss of OHV access for casual use and permitted events such as amateur
competition and club rides. For those
and other reasons, Congress and the President repealed the rule.
If this new rule is enacted it will also create confusion
and chaos. Agency staff will no longer
have time to authorize permitted OHV events or do travel plans. Designated OHV sites would most likely see a
loss of opportunity including entire areas being closed due to new definitions.
I believe the agency should redraw this proposal that
appears to have been crafted behind closed doors with little if any substantive
input from diverse multi-use stakeholders.
The public, partners, and agency staff that we work with deserve better.
LINK to BLM PROPOSED PLANNING RULE – Public Comments Due
by July 5, 2023
https://www.regulations.gov/document/BLM-2023-0001-0001
No comments:
Post a Comment