Land Use

Kane County, Utah, has just won another important victory in the ongoing dispute over control of roads across public lands. An en banc panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled in favor of Kane County and dealt a major blow to Utah wilderness groups fighting over who owns a handful of back roads in rural Kane …

Dear BRC Members and Supporters, Just one day before Christmas Eve 2010, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar announced that he had signed an Order that seeks to embed a Wilderness review in every component of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) planning, creating a unique status for Wilderness different from other multiple uses in BLM management.  Secretarial Order No. 3310 and …

On December 9, 2010, the Rubicon Trail Foundation (RTF) closed escrow on the purchase of 317 acres of land near the world famous Rubicon 4WD Trail in El Dorado County, California. This purchase is the culmination of efforts begun at the inception of RTF and has been a long term goal of the foundation. We have worked with the off …

Yesterday morning USA-ALL received calls from Kane County Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw to share the good news with us. The U.S. Attorney filed a response in federal court to the county’s motion for summary judgement. The federal government agreed that Kane County should be granted clear title to almost all of the Skutumpah road in Kane County! This is, as far …

While we were away the Washington Examiner printed another “Big Green” expose. This will be old news to most of BRC’s Rec News subscribers. Still, pretty compelling reading. Start with the oped below and check the other Examiner articles on the right. SPECIAL REPORT: Working for Big Green can be a very enriching experience http://brc1.us/9j87wx2 Related to the above… SPECIAL …

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comments on a proposal to withdraw – for five years – 332,000 acres of public land adjacent to the Marine Corps’ Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms from settlement, sale, and location of mining claims to preserve the status quo while the Marines complete environmental studies on a long-term proposal …

As the summer winds down and cooler weather prevails we all look forward to the riding season. We are also approaching a number of key deadlines for planning projects and court decisions that will determine the future of public lands. Forest Service Travel Management has now completed the final phase of NEPA with Records of Decision published for most areas.  …

The BLM team working on the Trackways National Monument near Las Cruces has released a preliminary set of alternatives and presented them at a workshop for public review. THEY ARE HORRIBLE! All of the alternatives eliminate three of the Chile Challenge Trails. This is in spite of repeated promises by the BLM that the ‘protection’ for the Trackways wouldn’t necessarily …

We’ll begin with a bit of good news from California. Nick Haris, one of my counterparts over at the  American Motocyclists Association, sent me an email update about 40,000 acres being added to Glamis. This is all related to the new Recreation Area Management Plan (RAMP) for the 200,000-acre Imperial Sand Dunes  Recreation Area, and, of course, the greenies milk-vetch …