Jim Davis
How would you manage a few million acres of public lands in Oregon’s desert?
You will have a critical opportunity to answer that question when the Bureau of Land Management seeks input from the public on the Lakeview Resource Management Plan Amendment. This process will lay the foundation for how 3.2 million acres in the Greater Hart-Sheldon — including beloved places such as Beatys Butte, Abert Rim, and the High Lakes plateau — will be managed for years to come.
Stewardship Fence Building Timelapse
What defines Oregon’s high desert?
Bounded by the Cascade Mountains to the west and the Blue Mountains to the north, Oregon’s high desert covers approximately 24,000 square miles. Annual rainfall in the high desert varies from 5 to 14 inches. The average elevation is 4,000 feet; at 9,733 feet, the summit of Steens Mountain is the highest point in Oregon’s high desert. The terrain of the high desert was mostly formed by a series of lava flows that occurred between 30 and 10 million years ago.
Durlin Hicock, Alice Elshoff Award winner
“Protecting public land is part of my spiritual being. It’s central to my identity to be in wilderness and to see it protected.” Durlin is proud to protect public lands for future generations, saying, “The highlight of my childhood was our family’s weekend outdoor trips. I look forward to my grandchildren having similar experiences outside in their lifetimes, and it wouldn’t be possible without ONDA.”
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) creates resource management plans to guide their decision-making across entire planning areas, such as a district or field office.
The BLM is developing a new Lakeview Resource Management Plan Amendment in response to two decades of successful advocacy and precedent-setting legal action led by ONDA.
For public lands advocates, providing comments during the resource management planning process is an important opportunity to shape how public lands and resources are managed for decades to come. The Lakeview process will offer the chance to help protect greater sage-grouse habitat, determine where off-road vehicles can and cannot travel on public lands, and where and how wildlands will be protected for future generations..
The Lakeview Resource Management Plan Amendment will particularly focus on three main issues: conservation of Lands with Wilderness Characteristics, administration of off-road vehicle use, and management of livestock grazing.
Understand these three issues and you’ll have the background you need to provide substantive, effective comments on the BLM’s plan.
Public lands are one of our nation’s greatest assets. You have both the right and opportunity to share your thoughts on how public lands and resources should be managed during […]
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