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| Recreational Access and Conservation - Conservation and Public Service Activities | Short Cuts | ||||
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Dedicated to conservation and multiple use of public lands for recreation opportunities. Edited by: John Stewart |
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BLM Draft National OHV Management Strategy On-line Comments
Carla Boucher, United Four Wheel Drive Associations
DATE: December 21, 2000
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WHAT: On December 4, 2000 the BLM issued a press release announcing the availability of the Draft National OHV Management Strategy (the Strategy). A federal register notice was issued on December 8, 2000.
HOW IT EFFECTS UFWDA: Public comments on the Strategy must be made by January 3, 2001. As you know, United has requested an extension of the comment deadline from January 3, 2001 until February 5, 2001. The BLM has not given any indication that it will be extending the comment deadline. Therefore we should plan on making our comments prior to January 3, 2001.
The Strategy intends on implementing some positive changes for OHV management. However, the serious shortfalls and violations of law contained in the Strategy overshadow its positive aspects.
THE DRAFT STRATEGY:
The Strategy listed five objectives:
1) At the national level: identify, review, and clarify BLMs OHV policy and revise regulations if needed.
2) Give guidance regarding existing requirements to state and field offices.
3) Improve communication between Washington Office and field offices.
4) Improve overall OHV management by recommending an increase in key staff and identify other staff and funding shortages.
5) Use the comments expressed during the strategy process.
The Strategy lists 19 action items that it feels are critical to the success of the strategy and that will be implemented as soon as possible.
1) Compile a Field Guide.
2) Improve coordination and communication between BLM offices and interest groups.
3) Appoint an OHV Coordinator (OC) at each state office.
4) Create a National OHV Strategy Action (NOSA) Team.
5) Appoint a National OHV Coordinator (National OC)
6) Have National OC and OC work together on NOSA Team.
7) Use NOSA Team to implement these action items.
8) National OC will develop needed BLM training for OHV management.
9) Use TreadLightly! and Leave No Trace as formal guidance in day-to-day activities and decisions.
10) Have State Directors identify areas where cumulative effects of OHV use have resulted in, or are reasonably expected to result in, more than negligible disturbance to habitat for proposed or listed threatened or endangered species and their proposed or designated critical habitat. This should be done with ongoing planning or new NEPA activities.
11) Determine unfunded needs of OHV management.
12) Assess data collection technology. Decide what activities need to occur at the National and State offices. Share successful techniques for data collection. Allow use of contractors or volunteers for data collection and GIS applications, for instance.
13) The cost of collection of data on roads and monitoring resources will be shared by coordinating with other projects such as fire, research, rangeland heath, and planning.
14) Provide additional equipment and training for patrolling.
16) Develop national guidance for field offices to use for special access requests. Field offices will determine whether the use demonstrates a need for special consideration; can use be authorized through a permit system; whether use is seasonal; whether use is confined to a specific area; and whether use is consistent with management objectives for the area. Examine implications of granting special considerations on other users, programs, and agencies.
17) Pick an interdisciplinary team to develop OHV Route Standards and Guidelines, including OHV and recreation managers, resource specialists, and engineers.
18) State and Regional OHV leads will evaluate existing maps, with assistance from the National Science and Technology Center. Then determine mapping inconsistencies and develop mapping standards.
19) Field offices will review current management of all WSAs to ensure compliance with the Interim Management Policy (IMP), including a review of motorized activity to ensure that OHV use is limited to the existing roads and trails.
The Strategy specifically incorporates several of the suggestions United made in June of this year.
Our suggestion that the BLM acquire outside funding to address the budgetary shortfalls of carrying out current OHV management and the monetary needs of implementing improved OHV management techniques.
1) Our suggestion to utilize Recreational Trails Program grants for maintenance.
2) Our suggestions to use safety and educational programs such as TreadLightly! as an educational tool regarding OHV use.
3) Our suggestion to utilize an adopt-a-route program to monitor for unacceptable impacts.
4) Our suggestions to utilize volunteers to help carry out GIS and GPS mapping and road and trail inventories.
The Strategy has several serious shortfalls.
1) The 30-day public comment period for the Draft was too short. Anyone without electronic access to the Internet was given an even shorter comment period (25 days) since not all BLM offices received paper copies of the Draft until 12/08/00. Furthermore, two additional business days were lost in the comment period due to recognition of Christmas Day and New Years Day as legal holidays. Finally, the self-imposed time-frame for issuing a Final Strategy by January 19, 2001 (the day before our new President-Elect Bush is sworn into office) limits the BLM review team from adequately addressing all of the comments received between January 3, 2001 and January 19, 2001 – just 12 business days.
2) The Table of Contents for the Strategy had an enormous amount of errors. The page numbers did not correctly correspond to the material indicated in the Contents for over 80% of the listings. These errors made working within the document extremely difficult.
3) Many of the early “Listening Meetings” were held at Resource Advisory Council meetings. The notices for the meetings failed in some instances to indicate that OHV issues would be addressed generally, and in many instances that the National OHV Management Strategy would be addressed specifically. Therefore, one of the three avenues of public involvement in formulating the Draft Strategy were rendered useless to the public.
4) All correspondence from the BLM to the public regarding the formulation of the Draft Strategy failed to indicate that a specific group of recreationists would be subject to the Final Strategy, contrary to current policy. The Draft proposes to change the definition of Off-Road Vehicles (OHVs) to include mechanized and human-powered vehicles and equipment. Therefore, from January (when the idea of a strategy was first announced by the BLM) to June (when the OHV Mailers and Listening Meetings were announced), and then until December (when the Draft Strategy was released) bicyclists, skateboarders, in-line skaters and other human-powered or mechanized users did not participate in the Strategy because they had no notice it would apply to them. Imagine the injustice if the BLM began dialoging with Personal Watercraft and Motor Boats about their uses on BLM-managed waterways and at the last moment all the discussions started to pertain to 4x4 vehicle use around lakes, rivers, and waterways located on BLM-managed lands.
5) Within the Strategy, the BLM acknowledges that it has no authority to make national designations of "closed unless signed open" or "open unless signed closed". However, the Strategy proposes to reword its current restriction of "Limited to Designated Roads and Trails" to "Closed except on signed and designated roads". United has suggested in its formal comments on the Draft Strategy to reword "Limited to Designated Roads and Trails" to "Use is permitted on roads and trails marked as designated for use" if a change must be made.
6) The Strategy indicates the BLM will conduct an appropriate level of NEPA analysis in compliance with laws such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). No one would argue that the BLM must prepare its NEPA analysis in compliance with laws such as the ESA, the CWA, or the NHPA. However, it is equally important that the BLM acknowledge that it must prepare its NEPA analysis in compliance with the Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLMPA) and the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act (MUSYA). The Strategy is biased in emphasizing conformance to some laws but omitting reference to other laws that require the BLM to manage our public lands under a multiple-use principle.
7) The Strategy promises to that when the BLM engages in planning for OHV use it will consider preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) instead of a complex environmental assessment (EA). The problem with this statement is that EAs are only completed in instances when the agency is unsure of whether a project falls under the requirements of NEPA or not. An EA is not in-and-of itself a substitution for an EIS, as the Strategy would lead the public to believe. If an EIS is not required under NEPA, then the agency should not waste time and resources on preparing one. If it is unsure whether an EIS is required, then it must prepare an EA (simple or complex) to be in compliance with NEPA. The Strategy is confusing the purposes of EAs and EISs. This confusion on the part of the agency is troubling. They must have a clear understanding of NEPA and the role of EAs and EISs in order to comply. This part of the Strategy leads the public to believe the BLM lacks such as understanding.
8) The Strategy requires the BLM to reevaluate road and trail designations upon the mere proposal to list threatened or endangered species or the mere proposal to list critical habitat. The BLM is not authorized to reevaluate areas based on mere proposals to list. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) does not grant such authority. Proposed listings do not give agencies regulatory authority until such time as the proposal goes through the public process of the ESA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issues a final rule to list. The only exception to this is when the USFWS issues an Emergency Listing.
9) The effects of implementing this requirement are far-reaching. In 2000, the USFWS has issued proposals-to-list 33 times, covering habitat in excess of 80.9 million acres! It is unknown how many acres of the 80.9 million acres lie within BLM-managed lands. However, these figures are a good indication of the loss of access we could experience if the BLM prohibits OHV use based on mere proposals to list!
10) The Strategy suggests that it will permit its State Directors to issue temporary closure orders when OHV use causes, or will cause, negligible or adverse effects. Currently, BLM regulations only permit emergency closures under 43 CFR 8341.2 if OHV use is causing, or will cause, considerable adverse effects. Notice how the Strategy suggests changing the conditions under which closure orders can be issued. It would allow temporary closures if OHV use could cause even negligible effects. United has indicated to the BLM that it lacks the authority to change the measure in §8341.2 from considerable to negligible unless it undertakes formal rulemaking pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
11) The Strategy fails to address how it will handle RS 2477 and other pre-existing access rights when it undertakes inventorying and designation of roads and trails.
To see a complete list of the problems association with the Strategy, see United’s Land Use Corner at www.ufwda.org or contact me for a copy of United’s formal comments.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: It would be beneficial if you can take the time to develop a personalized letter in response to the Draft Strategy. You could use the items listed above as talking points to assist you in drafting your own letter. It would be very nice to find out that the BLM was unable to publish a Final Strategy by January 19, 2001 because of the shear volume of individual comments it received in response to the Draft Strategy!
However, because time is short between now and January 3, 2001, a form letter is also available. Use the below form letter or the above talking points to send your own letter. Click here to use the E-mail letter provided by OutdoorWire
WHO TO WRITE:
OHV Comment Manager
Bureau of Land Management
Room 204, LS
1849 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20236
Comments can be made through E-mail at:
ohv_comment_manager@blm.gov
Comments can be made through the Internet at:
http://www.blm.gov/ohv/comments.htm
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FORM LETTER
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OHV Comment Manager
Bureau of Land Management
Room 204, LS
1849 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20236
E-mail: ohv_comment_manager@blm.gov
December 22, 2000
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for taking into consideration my comments below regarding the Draft National OHV Management Strategy. Please add my comments to the formal record.
While there are many positive steps taken within the Draft Strategy I ask that you make several changes before issuing the Final Strategy. Please do not base OHV closure of restriction decisions based on a mere proposal to list threatened or endangered species or proposed critical habitat. Do not change the existing restriction of "Limited to designated roads and trails" to "Closed to vehicle use except on signed and designated roads and trails". If the wording must be changed, please substitute it with "Use is permitted on roads and trails marked as designated for use".
Do conduct all future NEPA analysis in conformance with all existing laws and regulations, including those statutes addressing your requirement to manage our public lands for multiple-use. Do address how the BLM will acknowledge and respect RS 2477 and other pre-existing access rights, particularly in connection with new inventories and designations of use for roads and trails.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the management of our public lands. Please send me a paper copy of the Final Strategy when it becomes available.
Sincerely,
Signature
Name
Address
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