BLM rethinks access for off-road vehicles

The new plan allows field managers to limit access if needed to protect wildlife and the environment

Michael Milstein /  The Oregonian 5dec00

Federal officials on Monday proposed a new national management plan for off-road vehicles on Western public lands that for the first time could subject mountain bikes, in-line skates and other nonmotorized vehicles to the same rules as gas-powered Jeeps, motorbikes and dune buggies.

Although the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's draft management strategy for off-road vehicles does not itself limit vehicle use on the millions of acres of BLM land in the West, it lays the groundwork for field managers to do so if necessary to protect wildlife and the environment.

"We're not saying you have to close areas to this kind of use, but we are saying if you have problems or conflicts in some places, you should probably consider being a little more restrictive," said Scott Florence, manager of the BLM's Lakeview Resource Area in Southern Oregon who helped write the new plan.

The BLM manages nearly 16 million acres of federal lands in Oregon, a great expanse of both arid rangeland and forests some 10 times the size of the Mount Hood National Forest east of Portland. About 63 percent of BLM land in the state currently remains open to off-road vehicles, a greater percentage than in any other state except Nevada.

Executive orders issued in the 1970s have long governed off-road vehicle use on public lands, but an explosion in the number of such vehicles has since led to increasing impacts and congestion on some popular federal acreage that require closer scrutiny. Americans buy an average of 1,500 new off-highway vehicles each day, according to the BLM.

The national BLM strategy will not close any roads or trails but will make off-road vehicle rules more consistent across the West, officials said. Although the plan was first aimed only at motorized vehicles such as motorcycles, Jeeps and all-terrain vehicles, public comments later persuaded the agency to also include muscle-driven mountain bikes, in-line skates and even land-sailing "yachts" in its definition of off-road vehicles.

"We had large numbers of people who wanted us to deal with nonmotorized vehicles, too," because of their increasing numbers and impacts, said Florence, a BLM manager.

While the broadened definition recognizes the legions of mountain bikes now using public lands, Don Vardamis of the International Mountain Bicycling Association said it's unfair to suggest such bicycles can cause the same kind of damage that gas-powered vehicles do.

"We would encourage the BLM to handle those two categories separately and not lump them together because the impacts and conflicts of the two are very different," he said. "Some of the best mountain-bike riding in the country is on BLM land, and it can be done responsibly."

BLM officials in Western states will be expected to write elements of the national strategy into their local management plans in coming years.

The new vehicle strategy does highlight the differing effects of motorized and nonmotorized vehicles by recognizing a need to dampen the noise of motor-driven vehicles by working with manufacturers. It would also boost enforcement of off-road vehicle rules and orders BLM field staff to consider limiting vehicle use on all threatened and endangered species habitat "to prevent adverse effects to those species and habitat."

The BLM plan is open to public comment for 30 days and can be accessed on the Internet at www.blm.gov.

You can reach Michael Milstein at 503-294-7689 or by e-mail at michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com

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