“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,” claims long-time land use professional and Dealernews’ resident off-road Advocate. “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…”
That being said, Amador notes BLM’s new direction is off track — “This is one of the worst agency proposals that I have seen.” 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, according to Amador. “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.”
For more detail, see the Quiet Warrior’s full blog:
https://quietwarriorracing.
But act fast! If you don’t speak up by the July 4th holiday, your freedom to recreate responsibly will be taken away from we the people, and put into BLM policy.
LINK to BLM PROPOSED PLANNING RULE – Public Comments Due by July 5, 2023:
https://www.regulations.gov/
