A new order from the U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar makes it easier to deem land near Tucson a wilderness area, which may restrict motorized access and new mining claims.
The new order requires the Bureau of Land Management to review designated lands and possibly classify them as protected wilderness areas.
This policy reverses a 2003 decision that halted the Bureau of Land Management’s ability to create new wilderness areas. According to the BLM, “This order merely restores balance to the management of public lands.”
As a consequence, the BLM will review the wilderness status of 12.2 million acres in Arizona.
“Currently what is happening is the BLM is going through planning to determine uses of various public lands and seeing if that land has wilderness characteristics,” said Carrie Templin, public affairs specialist at the BLM.
“As part of the planning process, the BLM must determine whether which portions of land would be suitable for potential wilderness designation,” Templin says.
The new order will allow the BLM to evaluate an area of wilderness and then request that Congress protect it under the Wilderness Act. Only through Congress can lands be designated as wilderness, Templin said.
Not all land can become a wilderness area. The Wilderness Act only applies to land affected solely by forces of nature where human impact is minimal or there are opportunities of solitude or “unconfined recreation.” The area should have at least 5,000 acres and have ecological, geological, scientific or historical value.
Although this policy will move the BLM in a positive direction, it has stirred up debate among trail riders and off-road motorized vehicle owners.
Jeff Gursh, the executive director of the Arizona Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition and Arizona Trail Riders, said the main problem is with the definitions of what motorized vehicles really are.
“When you say you are going to create something as wilderness and you are going to ban motorized vehicles, that is not just an ATV or motorcycle,” Gursh said.
This includes trucks towing horses and cars with mountain bikes. Anything with a motor is banned, Gursh said.
“Mostly this policy is just identifying wilderness characteristics in order to apply to all land use decisions with the BLM,” said Kristen Lenhardt, public affairs specialist at the BLM Tucson field office.
BLM has a draft management plan for the Ironwood Forest National Monument currently under review. However, this will not include the large parts of Silverbell and West Silverbell mountains, including Ragged Top.
“Actually going out and doing these inventories will help us move along and move us to a different genre of how we decide to manage these different types of areas,” Lenhardt said.
She added that this policy is another tool that will help in the analyzing of wilderness characteristics as part of the BLM’s land decisions.
To Gursh, this policy will not only affect the industry of off-highway vehicle use, but also state tourism as well.
“We really depend on tourism, so unless you are a marathon runner, odds are you will never be able to see any of the wilderness once it is designated that way, because you cannot get to it,” Gursh said.
Other motorized vehicle organizations also agree that if this policy is enacted, their businesses and community may be drastically changed.
“This policy is a scary thing,” said Dennis Stadel, president of the Arizona ATV Riders. Stadel doesn’t want to see the federal government take the land away from riders. The Arizona ATV Riders is organizing a voting block. “If you vote for this, we are going to vote your ass out,” Stadel said.
“There are over 400,000 of us in Arizona and we are all against it,” Stadel said. “That is how strong we are.”
A new order from the U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar makes it easier to deem land near Tucson a wilderness area, which may restrict motorized access and new mining claims.
The new order requires the Bureau of Land Management to review designated lands and possibly classify them as protected wilderness areas.
This policy reverses a 2003 decision that halted the Bureau of Land Management’s ability to create new wilderness areas. According to the BLM, “This order merely restores balance to the management of public lands.”
As a consequence, the BLM will review the wilderness status of 12.2 million acres in Arizona.“Currently what is happening is the BLM is going through planning to determine uses of various public lands and seeing if that land has wilderness characteristics,” said Carrie Templin, public affairs specialist at the BLM.
“As part of the planning process, the BLM must determine whether which portions of land would be suitable for potential wilderness designation,” Templin says.
The new order will allow the BLM to evaluate an area of wilderness and then request that Congress protect it under the Wilderness Act. Only through Congress can lands be designated as wilderness, Templin said.
Not all land can become a wilderness area. The Wilderness Act only applies to land affected solely by forces of nature where human impact is minimal or there are opportunities of solitude or “unconfined recreation.” The area should have at least 5,000 acres and have ecological, geological, scientific or historical value.
Although this policy will move the BLM in a positive direction, it has stirred up debate among trail riders and off-road motorized vehicle owners.
Jeff Gursh, the executive director of the Arizona Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition and Arizona Trail Riders, said the main problem is with the definitions of what motorized vehicles really are.
“When you say you are going to create something as wilderness and you are going to ban motorized vehicles, that is not just an ATV or motorcycle,” Gursh said.
This includes trucks towing horses and cars with mountain bikes. Anything with a motor is banned, Gursh said.
“Mostly this policy is just identifying wilderness characteristics in order to apply to all land use decisions with the BLM,” said Kristen Lenhardt, public affairs specialist at the BLM Tucson field office.
BLM has a draft management plan for the Ironwood Forest National Monument currently under review. However, this will not include the large parts of Silverbell and West Silverbell mountains, including Ragged Top.
“Actually going out and doing these inventories will help us move along and move us to a different genre of how we decide to manage these different types of areas,” Lenhardt said.
She added that this policy is another tool that will help in the analyzing of wilderness characteristics as part of the BLM’s land decisions.
To Gursh, this policy will not only affect the industry of off-highway vehicle use, but also state tourism as well.
“We really depend on tourism, so unless you are a marathon runner, odds are you will never be able to see any of the wilderness once it is designated that way, because you cannot get to it,” Gursh said.
Other motorized vehicle organizations also agree that if this policy is enacted, their businesses and community may be drastically changed.
“This policy is a scary thing,” said Dennis Stadel, president of the Arizona ATV Riders. Stadel doesn’t want to see the federal government take the land away from riders. The Arizona ATV Riders is organizing a voting block. “If you vote for this, we are going to vote your ass out,” Stadel said.
“There are over 400,000 of us in Arizona and we are all against it,” Stadel said. “That is how strong we are.”
