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<br />"''''...'''.......v ....'!lll.o VI V <br /> <br />I jll\ !tV, ..;V..; c.....;..; ............, <br /> <br />ill' <br /> <br /> <br />001336 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />oJ . <br />< ~ <br />l- <br />I- <br />;1 <br /> <br />< <br />c:: <br />l- <br />X <br />ct <br />'II. <br /> <br />Statement at Ann Morgan, Colorado State Director <br />Bureau oC Land Management <br /> <br />Before the <br />Senate Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management <br />Field Hearing <br />on <br />BLM Colorado Roadless Review Process <br /> <br />Grand Junction, Colorado -. June 6, 1998 <br /> <br />Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee - My name is Ann Morgan. I am dIe <br />Buteau of LCIIld Management State Director of Colorado. I appreciate the opportunity to testify <br />today regarding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roadless review process on public lands <br />in Colorado. <br /> <br />The West, and in particular Colorado, is in the midst of a period of phenomenal groWth. <br />Many rural communities are surrounded by public lands. In fact, federal lands make up more than <br />one third of the 66 million acres in Colorado. We live aI a time when more and more people are <br />making more and more competing, and sometimes conflicting, demands on the public lands: <br />demands to ensure the public lands continue to contribute to the local quality oflife; demands to <br />ensure the national interests are represented in how we manage the western landscape; demands for <br />. access to mineral, forage and grazing resources; and demands for roadless areas, conservation and <br />recreation opportUnities. <br /> <br />Our mission is to accommodate all of thesc multiple uses of the public lauds while ensuriDg <br />the hcallb and productivity of these lands for cunent and future generations. However, we are <br />vay cogniz31lt of the fact that describing this mission is one thing; fulfilling it, another. <br /> <br />The BLM uses the land use planning process to help resolve resource allocation conflicts. <br />The BLM considers reasonable land use proposals received from the public as pan of the process <br />for maintaining and updating its land use plans. Resource Management Plans (RMP) are not, nor <br />should they be, static documents. They are inrended to reflect current public demands and resource <br />conditions. The demand for various resources is ever changing. Periodic review and updating of <br />these plans is fully appropriate and necessary. <br /> <br />Congress understood the importance of updated information when it drafted the Federal <br />Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 to guide the BLM in its management of dIe public <br />lands. Section 201(a) of FLPMA mandares that the Secretary of the Interior prepare and maintain. <br />on a continuing basis. an inventory of all the public lands and their resources and other values, <br />including but not limited to, outdoor recreation and scenic values, giving priority to areas of critical <br />environmental concern. <br /> <br />All 8.3 million acres of BLM managed lands in Colorado are included in eleven RMP's. <br />Competing uses for the same piece of land are becoming more prevalent. thereby necessitating the <br />need to keep these plans currenL Occasionally, where there is substantial public concern about the <br />impactS of a proposed land use action on other resoun:e values. Section 302 of FLPMA allows the <br />BLM to take any action necessary to prevent UIlIIecessary degradation of the land. We have used <br />this 'Hlthority while we resolve the issue of how best to use and prolect identified resources <br />through the planning process. <br />