Press Release | July 31, 2024
The Bureau of Land Management held a summit in Nevada on July 11 . It was attended by MIC staff and is one of five scheduled by the BLM through the summer and fall of 2024. The BLM is gearing up for a series of state-level summits to inform how it manages recreation on public lands. These mark the next step of implementing the new Blueprint for 21st Century Outdoor Recreation.
The following contains an excerpt from a press release from the MIC…
MIC staff, along with recreation stakeholders and government representatives, attended the recent Bureau of Land Management Nevada Recreation Summit – the federal agency’s second of three steps in developing a recreation action plan for the state.
“First was our internal assessment,” stated Miles Gurtler, Recreation & NLCS Program Lead at the BLM’s Nevada State Office. “After this summit, we will incorporate your feedback with the feedback from our internal assessment to develop a draft BLM Nevada Recreation Action Plan. The last step will be sharing that draft plan widely with the general public as well as any partners that couldn’t make the summit and then incorporating the public feedback into a final (plan). We hope to have that draft out to the public early this fall with a final plan in the months following once all the feedback is compiled and considered.”
“The Nevada summit highlighted the agency’s commitment to high-quality recreation for all user groups, and powersports and OHV enthusiasts were well represented at the event,” said Don Amador, Western States Representative for the MIC, Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, and the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association. “Yet both the agency and stakeholders acknowledged that serious challenges exist, such as staffing shortages mostly due to low pay and unaffordable housing. Volunteer efforts and partnerships matter a lot. It was a great networking opportunity and we were able to reconnect with a number of BLM staff, some representatives from the private sector, and even new players in the outdoor recreation arena.”
“Data showcasing the huge local and state economic boost from outdoor recreation is helping to focus more and better attention on land use, maintenance, and access,” Amador said. “Advocacy for outdoor and OHV recreation will continue to be important for powersports enthusiasts and our industry.”
The Nevada summit was one of five scheduled by the BLM through the summer and fall. The agency stated that these summits are a key part of implementing its new Blueprint for 21st Century Outdoor Recreation, which will combine with the BLM’s Connecting with Communities strategy to create a national recreation plan. The BLM states that it manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states, and that includes 48 million acres in Nevada.
For more information about the upcoming state recreation summits, contact Matt Blocker, Event Coordinator, at mblocker@blm.gov.
