CMC CONSERVATION ORIENTATION SERIES #3 Federal land management agencies

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The large majority of CMC’s recreational and educational activities take place mostly on Federal public lands. These are lands that are managed primarily by the National Park Service; Bureau of Land Management; and the US Forest Service.

The National Park Service (NPS) is part of the US Department of Interior. Rocky Mountain National Park covers some 415 square miles located in north central Colorado,. The park is managed by a Park Superintendent from an office located within the Park. In addition to Rocky Mountain National Park, the Club occasionally visits other NPS units in Colorado. These include Mesa Verde, Black Canyon, Great Sand Dunes National Parks. We also visit Colorado, Dinosaur, and Florissant Fossil Beds National Monuments.

The US Forest Service is part of the US Department of Agriculture. It manages some 13 million acres in Colorado, located in 7 National Forests and two national grasslands. The bulk of the CMC’s Forest activities take place on three National Forests: Arapaho-Roosevelt; Pike-San Isabel; and White River. The White River is the most heavily visited national forest in the country due in large part to all the ski areas. Each Forest has a Forest Supervisor and Supervisor’s office.

Colorado is part of Region 2 of the Forest Service. Region 2 contains Colorado, almost all of Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. The Region 2 office recently relocated to the Denver West area, off I-70 and Colfax, in Golden.

Here are the Forest units in Colorado and location of the Supervisor’s office.•

• Fort Collins: Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest, including the Pawnee National • Grasslands. Glenwood Springs: White River National Forest. • Pueblo: Pike-San Isabel National Forest, including the Comanche National Grasslands in SE Colorado and the previously mentioned Cimarron National Grasslands. Laramie, WY: Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. There are three Colorado based • Ranger Districts on this Forest, of 6 total Districts. These District offices are located in Steamboat Springs, Walden, and Yampa. • Delta: Grand Mesa/Uncompahgre/Gunnison National Forest. Popularly known as “the • GMUG.” Durango: San Juan National Forest. Monte Vista: Rio Grande National Forest.

CMC CONSERVATION ORIENTATION SERIES #3 Federal land management agencies

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The Club recreates heavily on other lands managed overall by the US Department of Interior. These lands are primarily part of the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM generally manages the western Colorado plateau and canyon country. However, BLM also manages land in the Upper Arkansas River Valley and in northwest Larimer County. Few people know that three popular 14ers; Redcloud, Sunshine, Handies; are managed by the BLM.

The BLM’s State Office is in Lakewood at 2800 Youngfield St. Colorado BLM manages some 8 million surface acres and about 27 million acres of mineral estate. The latter acreage is primarily sub-surface, meaning underground. The “split estate” issue has become a divisive issue in Colorado, meaning that someone may own the surface rights on their land, but do not own what might be underground.

BLM Field Offices are located in Craig, Meeker, Grand Junction, Silt, Kremmling, Montrose, Gunnison, Dolores, Monte Vista, Canon City; with a small sub-office in Lake City.

Nationally, including Alaska, the BLM owns about 1 acre out of every ten. Again here in Colorado, BLM manages 2 national monuments, 5 congressionally designated wilderness areas, 53 wilderness study areas, and 3 national conservation areas. For those who get tired of always going to the mountains, if that is possible, much of the BLM area is just as scenic and far less crowded (except for the three BLM 14ers, of course).

Additional DOI lands that the Club might occasionally visit are those managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Reclamation. The Club has recreated on Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge, located along the Green River in far NW Colorado, as well as wildlife areas in the San Luis Valley. The Bureau of Reclamation is concerned primarily with water diversions, but does manage a few hiking trails, particularly along Blue Mesa Reservoir west of Gunnison.

ADVOCACY:

All federal land agencies and field offices work under management plans. These plans periodically undergo changes and revisions. The CMC Conservation Department represents the membership in reviewing and working on these plans, as part of the general public.

STEWARDSHIP:

The Club historically has played a major role with the federal land management agencies in helping to take care of the resource. Or, putting it differently, we want to protect the areas where we play. The Club has offered trail work days and long weekends for several decades. More recently, as agency staffs downsize due to budget restrictions, the CMC and other volunteer based organizations, now employ full time seasonal trail crews that work from May to October, primarily on Forest Service and BLM lands. Funding for these CMC trail efforts comes from foundation grants, individual donations and agency funding. While CMC CONSERVATION ORIENTATION SERIES #3 Federal land management agencies

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agencies are often unable to hire full time, or even their own seasonal, staff, they do have some money available that goes to support trained volunteers and seasonal staff. Member volunteers are welcome on most of the State-CMC projects.

In addition to these State CMC efforts, the Denver and Pikes Peak Groups (chapters) continue to run their own member volunteer trail crew efforts. All members are encouraged to participate in these trail activities. KEY LINKS (for more information)

www.cmc.org/conservation

DOI: https://www.doi.gov https://www.nps.gov/index.htm https://www.nps.gov/state/co/index.htm https://www.blm.gov https://www.blm.gov/about/what-we-manage/colorado https://www.blm.gov/office/little-snake-field-office (sample Colorado BLM office)

Agriculture https://www.usda.gov https://www.usda.gov/our-agency/agencies https://www.fs.fed.us https://www.fs.fed.us/about-agency/contact-us/regional-offices https://www.fs.usda.gov/arp (sample Colorado USFS supervisor’s office)

An additional useful web site of interest: https://www.recreation.gov