PROGRAM: Don Bruns is the Colorado Recreation and Visitor Services program lead for the BLM in Colorado. He works hand and hand with numerous agencies regarding Colorado tourism, provides technical recreation planning, visitor and facility services and the list goes on. Don will also explain BLM’s multiple-use mission as set forth by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. This particular act mandates that the public lands be managed for a variety of uses, such as energy development, livestock grazing, recreation, and timber harvesting, while protecting a wide array of natural, cultural, and historical resources.
Bureau of Land Management
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BUREAU of LAND MANAGEMENT, "Our Land & Their Land . . ."
The October meeting was presented by Don Bruns, Colorado Recreation & Visitor Services Program Lead/Outdoor Recreation Planner, Colorado State Office, U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Don, a native of Nebraska, grew up on a farm. He is a graduate of Colorado State University, and has been working with the federal government for 41 years, 39 of which have been at the BLM. He has been in Colorado for 36 years and seen many changes in land management over the years.
The BLM was created in 1946 by combining the Grazing Service Offices and the General Land Offices. The mission of the BLM is to sustain the health, productivity and diversity of America's public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. It administers over 245 million surface acres--more than any other Federal agency in the U.S, The BLM manages these lands for multiple uses, such as energy development, livestock grazing, recreation, watersheds, minerals, and timber harvesting in addition to protecting a wide array of natural, cultural and historical resources. The BLM also has custody of almost nine million pages of historic land documents, including copies of homestead and sales patents, survey plats and survey field notes.
Don told us that most of Colorado's Front Range was homesteaded--an applicant was allotted 160 acres with the obligation to build and use this land within five years, or it reverted to the government. The first homesteader’s received-ed full mineral rights as well. Later, homesteaders got only surface rights. As time went on, the number of acres allotted increased to 320 and then to a full section, 640 acres. There were pockets of land nobody seemed to want, and the BLM oversaw them. The BLM has, over time, traded lands so that its presence is more clustered, making it much easier to manage.
In some ways, the BLM's idea of land for recreation is to protect the land from people ruining it. So many areas are not advertised or known about, and access is limited. The National Park Service budget is based on approximately $28/acre/year needed; the Forest Service's budget is valued at approximately $22/acre/year, while the BLM's budget allots approximately $2/acre/year. When Bruce Babbitt (Clinton administration) was Secretary of the Interior, he said that public land needed to be managed on a local level, and he felt the BLM did this best.
Don talked about many of the forty recreation areas of the State that are managed by the BLM including the Anasazi ruins in the Canyon of the Ancients, McGinnis Canyon, Rattlesnake Canyon, Arkansas headwaters, Yampa River below Craig, North Park Sand Dunes, Red Hill, Bacco Mountain, Bull Gulch near Glenwood Springs, and Oh Be Joyful near Crested Butte where kayakers can spend time on Class 6 water.
He also talked about the Lake City/Ouray/Silverton tri-angle on the Alpine Loop Byway with three fourteeners, historic mining, and wildflowers (near Engineer and Cinnamon Passes) and the Silverton Ski Area. The latter is where the world's fastest skiing record--over 140mph--was reached. At Gunnison Gorge, which has blue-ribbon trout fisheries, one must hike in and carry your boat--but it is world-class fly-fishing--Northwest of Delta and Southwest of Grand Junction at Gateway, next to Sew-Em-Up Mesa along the Delores River. Then head upstream to Delores for some of the best trout fishing.
Don also mentioned Montrose is selling many off-road vehicles, and people are flocking to the area for "off-road". Travel management plans are being developed to limit off-road vehicles to designated areas only.
Another of the BLM's responsibilities is managing grazing land. The BLM allows only the number of cattle that the land will sustain. Revenue generated is approximately $1.35/Animal Unit Month (AUM) for the BLM. Ranchers pay as much as $10-$12/animal/month in some private leasing areas. Grazing permits are mostly historical, meaning the same ranch/family may have had a permit for generations.
There are several pieces of legislation in place that re-quire cooperation between the Native Americans and the Federal government. Part of Don's job is to liaison with Washington, DC, for the BLM's budget which is $3 mil-lion to manage/maintain 60 million acres of land in Colorado. He also sets up public meetings to give information to the local populace, gives technical information to field offices in the State, as well as supporting his super-visor. If you are interested, there is a BLM kiosk in the REI flagship store near downtown as well as an ad in the Colorado Tourism Office. Currently, the BLM is working with Mesa State University to survey the impact on land, people, environment and the economy of a particular area of Bureau land.
Don had prepared a packet for each person which contained considerable information on the BLM presence in Colorado, including a page on the history of the BLM and a chronology of significant events in that history as well as the extent of the federal government's areas of administration, a Colorado map, and BLM maps of the National Landscape Conservation System in Colorado and Colorado Recreation Guide. Also included was a list of the Colorado BLM Field Offices and contacts--both managers and recreation staff. There was an overview of the BLM nationally as well as computer printouts of BLM's Recreation Inventory Assessments, BLM Colorado 100, Map Index and locations where these individual maps can be purchased-ed for $4/each, a page from the Colorado BLM website, and last but not least, an Outcomes Checklist for Recreation Management Objectives.
Don also mentioned books and articles available for further research and information, including the 2006 Greatest Good of the Land which is a history of the National Forest Service, and an article in National Geographic, August, 2001, on the national lands "The Big Open: Going Public With the Public Lands", pages 2 - 29.
Did you know it's illegal to pick up pieces of pottery and remove them from any public/BLM land--it is a Federal offense?!
Water law was also mentioned--it's very controversial in ways one might not expect. Rafters may not set foot on privately owned land unless the owner agrees to it. Don's comment: 98% of all water attorneys are alive, and they all live in Colorado! The small but enthusiastic group attending asked a number of questions but time constraints brought the program to a close. We sincerely thank Don Bruns, ph: 303-239-3732.
Thank you Nancy Brueggeman.
NATIONAL NATURAL LANDMARKS. Did you know there are 591 National Natural Landmarks (NNL) in the United States? This program had its beginnings in 1962 and is "of national scope to encourage the preservation of the best remaining examples of the nation's biological and geological features in both public and private ownership."
In June 2011, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar designated six in the West for consideration, bringing the total of these national natural landmarks in the U.S. to 591. National Natural Landmarks are determined through a process that includes "a scientific evaluation and public-comment period to acknowledge each site's unique biological or geological features".
Two sites are in Colorado: Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon and the Golden Fossil Areas near Golden. The remaining four: Barfoot Park in southern Arizona; Kahlotus Ridgetop in Washington State; and two in Oregon: Round Top Butte near Medford and The Island. No new land-use restrictions are to be imposed. In designating these six areas, Salazar said, "we help establish and pass down to future generations those awe-inspiring places that make America truly beautiful."
* The Golden Fossil Areas out of Golden, CO, will become part of the existing Morrison Fossil Area National Natural Landmark and will be known as the Morrison-Golden Fossil Areas. The 19-acre sites are claimed to be the first of importance paleontological sites along the Front Range and U.S. Known internationally, these are the only sites worldwide which have
produced unique fossil footprints representing mammals, reptiles and birds. Morrison's Fossil Area, known locally as Dinosaur
Ridge or the "hogback" along the Dakota sandstone ridge, has yielded nine dinosaur species, crocodiles and turtles. Some of these tracks north of Morrison have been darkened to make them more visible to visitors.
* The 72-acre Hanging Lake site is located along I-70, off to the north side of and in he canyon east of Glenwood Springs within the White River National Forest. The lake, formed by a travertine deposition, the Spouting Rock Waterfall and other flora and fauna "support a rare wetland ecosystem, including hanging gardens." An uphill trail from the highway leads to Hanging Lake; visitors should allow ample time to climb along with rest periods if needed.
* The Barfoot Park in southern Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains has an unusual mix of Sierra Madre and Rocky Mountain flora and fauna on 680 acres of federal land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Of interest are four pine species plus 18 other tree species, and over 14 acres of talus slopes, three meadows and 2 permanent springs.
* Round Top Butte includes a basaltic butte, flat volcanic plains and small hills near Medford, Oregon. The habitat covers 747 acres in two parcels: an established Research Natural Area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and a preserve managed by the Nature Conservancy. Exceptional to the area are native bunchgrasses, dry grassland, ponderosa pine, white oak and buck brush.
* The Island is on a plateau at the confluence of the Deschutes and Crooked Rivers in east-central Oregon. Within the Columbia Plateau, it has one of the- best known and least-disturbed examples of native juniper savannah. The 208-acre site is
jointly managed by the Bureau of land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, a designated Research Natural Area.
* Kahlotus Ridgetop is near Kahlotus, Washington, and a remnant of Palouse Prairie. It is claimed this "Prairie" is "the most endangered and the most altered landscape in the inland Pacific Northwest." This 240-acre remnant is overseen by the Washington Department of Natural Resources and has about one percent of the original prairie with "small fragments in developed landscapes." Palouse refers not only to the area, but a land with short and thick grass/lawn, on silt dunes or random humps and hollows formed in the ice age from glacial outwash.
(Sources: The Denver Post, June 16 & 28, 2011, and websites)
* Also of interest: the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area on 4,100 acres within the San Juan National Forest between Pagosa Springs and Durango, and surrounded by the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, became a National Historic Site in 1970. Colorado Representative to the U.S. House Scott Tipton introduced legislation to make the site a national monument this past summer. Colorado Senator Michael Bennet had introduced a bill in the Senate earlier in 2011, which had been approved previously by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The designation would "ensure that local ranchers, out-doorsmen and members of Indian tribes would be able to continue to use the land around Chimney Rock." When declared a national monument, additional federal funds would be needed also.
Chimney Rock is a 1,000 year-old location on a high mesa, of six square miles, built by early Pueblans known as Anasazi or "the Ancient Ones". Two natural soaring sandstone pillars are believed "a sacred site with cultural significance for both its builders and their descendants, today's southwest Native-American tribes." First excavated in the 1920s, it was further excavated in the 1960s - '70s and study continues. The Taos Pueblo Indians in Northern New Mexico believe the two stone pillars to be a shrine dedicated to the Twin War Gods, and Colorado's Southern Utes also believe them and the ruins as sacred.
(Sources: Chimney Rock Archaeological Area pamphlets, The Denver Post June 11 & 29, 2011; and website updated 9/28/11)