The Bureau of Land
Management has a new nationwide strategy for off-highway vehicle
management. The plan, released Jan. 19, calls for local
environmental analyses of vehicle impacts, saying that some
endangered species habitat may need further protection from OHV
use. It also broadens BLM’s definition of off-highway vehicles,
which will now include snowmobiles, personal watercraft, known
commonly by the trade name Jet Ski, and possibly even human-powered
vehicles like mountain bikes and Rollerblades. The plan also
proposes permit programs to manage OHVs and generate user revenue,
and backs federal funding increases for OHV
management.
Jim Keeler, BLM’s Washington, D.C.,
office OHV coordinator, describes the strategy as “a shopping list”
for increased funding and staffing. But Andrew Hartsig at the
National BLM Wilderness Campaign in Salt Lake City sounds a
cautionary note: “Some of these strategies that they’re using to go
fishing for funding could result in worse OHV issues than if there
was no plan at all.” Hartsig is particularly concerned that a
proposal to buy access easements across private land “could open up
whole new areas to OHVs.” Hartsig’s group and others had pushed the
BLM to adopt a “Closed Unless Posted Open” policy in the new
strategy.
Adena Cook of the BlueRibbon Coalition,
an off-highway vehicle users’ group, says, “It’s beyond the
agency’s mandate” to address endangered species and OHV licensing
or registration issues. She does, however, support the proposed
increase in properly trained law enforcement personnel. “We
recognize that there are jerks out there … There just comes a
time when you have to get out there and haul them up
short.”
An implementation plan is in the works,
and the BLM hopes to hire an OHV coordinator for each state by this
summer.
The strategy is available online at
www.blm.gov/ohv, or call 202/452-5125 for a copy.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Agency will try to track trails.
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