**Statement of**

**Henri Bisson, Deputy Director**

**Bureau of Land Management**

**Before the House Committee on Natural Resources**

**Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest and Public Lands**

**"The Impacts of Unmanaged Off-Road Vehicles on Federal Land"**

**March 13, 2008**

[Introduction]{.underline}

Thank you for inviting me to testify regarding motorized recreational
use on the public lands. My testimony today will highlight the ongoing
efforts within the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park
Service (NPS) to manage off-highway vehicle (OHV) use. These two
agencies within the Department of the Interior operate under separate
mandates, and must therefore manage this use of the public lands
differently. Accordingly, I will address the BLM and NPS approaches
separately.

**[OHV Use on BLM-Managed Public Lands]{.underline}**

The BLM strives to preserve and protect resources for use and enjoyment
of future generations while meeting the needs of motorized recreational
access today. With more than 57 million people living within 25 miles of
BLM administered public lands, motorized recreation on the 258 million
acres of public land is managed consistent with the multiple-use mandate
of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). Wise
management of OHVs and balancing the needs of all the users of the
public lands is our continuing challenge.

This challenge has been building over time. What was once the vast and
spacious public land of the West that few knew about and fewer actively
used for recreational purposes has now become something quite different.
Today, with the suburban sprawl of many western cities and the increased
pressure for more outdoor recreational opportunities, the BLM has had to
adjust its management of these lands to ensure their health for future
generations.

[Challenges]{.underline}

Some facts and figures help to illustrate the reality of our management
challenges: OHV use has been a major recreational activity across the
West for the past four decades. The BLM-administered public lands will
host 58 million recreation visits from across the country and other
nations this year, a number that has nearly doubled in the last 25
years. Many of these visitors will be responsibly riding ATVs or
motorcycles. The Motorcycle Industry Council conservatively estimates
there are four times more OHVs in the West than there were a decade ago.

The extensive network of roads and trails, now primarily associated with
motorized and non-motorized recreation use, has largely been inherited
from historical access patterns dating back nearly 200 years. The
majority of roads and trails in use today were originally developed for
trade, mineral exploration, ranching, forestry and many other purposes.

The combined effect of population increase in the West, unauthorized
user-created roads, explosive growth in the use of OHVs, advances in
motorized technology, and intense industry marketing have generated
increased social conflicts and resource impacts on the public land. The
BLM faces many challenges\--protecting resources, minimizing user
conflicts, safeguarding visitor safety, and providing reasonable and
appropriate access.

Over the last decade, increasing recreational demand has led to an
increase in legislation, litigation and intense public interest
regarding BLM's management of OHV travel. As a result, the BLM is
addressing travel management as part of a comprehensive approach that
considers public access needs for all modes of transportation. BLM has
sought extensive public participation and input to designate a travel
network that is thoughtfully designed and properly managed and makes the
best use of resources. Public participation is essential to the BLM
planning process and serves to improve communication, develop enhanced
understanding of different perspectives, and identify solutions to
issues and problems.

Additionally, in order to help address increased use of BLM lands, the
2009 Budget proposes directing approximately \$8 million from field
offices experiencing little or no population growth to field offices in
or adjacent to expanding communities. Recreation and law enforcement are
among the programs in which these funding shifts will occur.

[BLM Management and Policy]{.underline}

In 2001, the BLM issued its *National Management Strategy for Motorized
OHV Use on Public Lands* to improve our management of this recreation
activity. This strategy sets comprehensive direction for planning and
managing motorized recreational use in full compliance with Executive
Orders, existing regulations, and policy guidance. Through the planning
and travel management process, public lands are designated as "open",
"limited", or "closed" to OHV use. Open areas are areas where all types
of vehicle use are permitted at all times, anywhere in the area. Limited
areas are lands where OHV use is restricted at certain times or use is
only authorized on designated routes, and closed areas are lands where
OHV use is prohibited. This 2001 strategy recognizes motorized
recreational use as a legitimate use of public land wherever it is
compatible with established resource management objectives.

Building on this strategy, in 2005 the BLM issued a revised "Land Use
Planning Handbook," which included specific guidance for "Comprehensive
Travel and Transportation Management." It ensures that all new land use
plans developed by the BLM will address public access, travel management
and OHV area designations. These land use plans guide the management of
all of the 258 million acres for which the BLM is responsible.

Finally, in December 2007, the BLM sent guidance to its field offices to
further clarify travel management decisions in the planning process.
Specifically, the guidance affirmed that continued designation of large
areas that remain open to unregulated "cross-country travel" is not a
practical management strategy. Instead, field offices are directed to
focus OHV travel on designated roads and trails. Field offices still can
and have designated open areas, where unrestricted OHV play is
permissible. Additionally, this guidance addresses route planning,
inventory and evaluation, innovative partnerships, user education,
mapping, signing, and law enforcement. The guidance will result in
establishing rational and well-analyzed travel networks, permitting OHV
users with continued opportunity to recreate on public lands.

With the completion of new or updated plans, the amount of land
designated as limited has increased and the number of acres of open
areas has decreased. For example, in the Ely, Nevada, Resource
Management Plan (RMP) (2008), the number of acres open to cross-country
OHV use declined from 9.8 million acres to zero acres under the
preferred management alternative. More than a million acres in the
District are closed to OHV use. The closed areas consist of
congressionally designated wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas, which
is in accordance with the Wilderness Act of 1964 and FLPMA. OHV use on
the remaining 10.3 million acres in the planning area is limited to
designated roads and trails. This particular area also benefits from a
congressionally designated trail system for OHV users.

Open areas have been retained in other RMPs where historical OHV play
areas have existed for many years and resource conflicts are minimal.
Open areas are appropriate for intensive OHV use where there are no
compelling resource protection needs or public safety issues to warrant
limiting cross-country use. Examples of areas open to motorized
recreational use include El Mirage OHV Area in the Mojave Desert of
California, 12,000 acres of flat lakebed used for land sailing and OHV
riding, and Hackberry Lake OHV Area in New Mexico, offering 55,000 acres
of rolling dunes used for OHV play. These open areas are extremely
important local and regional destinations for OHV play with minimal
impact.

Closures are sometimes necessary to protect and conserve resources or
for public safety in a particular area. Closures can be very
controversial. The BLM frequently attempts to work with affected or
interested parties to reach agreement on options to address a particular
challenge before issuing notices of motorized travel restrictions or
temporary closures. Most closures remain in effect until conditions
change, impact is reduced or a new decision is addressed in a plan.

For example, in September 2006, the BLM issued a notice of OHV Travel
Restriction for the Factory Butte Area in Utah. This decision was made
after months of discussion by a group of citizens organized by the BLM
Utah Resource Advisory Council. The group could not reach consensus, so
the BLM issued an order restricting motorized travel to designated
routes on a little over 142,000 acres of public land in order to protect
threatened and endangered species that had been adversely impacted. A
small OHV open area was also left in place. This restriction will remain
in effect until a new Richfield Resource Management Plan becomes final
later this year.

As part of the BLM's commitment to implementing its land use plans and
protecting resources, the agency deploys 195 law enforcement rangers and
56 special agents across the public lands, about 1 for every 1.2 million
acres. High-use recreation areas, such as sand dunes in Southern
California, Utah, Idaho and Nevada, continue to be a challenge,
especially on long holiday weekends and during major events, and are a
primary focus of BLM law enforcement. Imperial Sand Dunes in California
typically has more than 150,000 visitors during winter holidays such as
Thanksgiving, New Year's and President's Day. Over the New Year's
weekend this year, law enforcement issued 630 citations, arrested 25
individuals. Emergency Medical Services responded to 129 calls. The BLM
works closely with local law enforcement agencies on patrols, safety,
enforcement and emergency medical responses. We greatly benefit from the
strong support of many County Sheriffs and State Highway Patrol
organizations throughout the West. The use of short-term work details of
BLM officers from other states and officers from other agencies, as well
as continued support from local law enforcement agencies through
assistance agreements, has proven invaluable.

[Partnerships]{.underline}

The vast majority of OHV users are responsible riders. They share the
BLM's commitment to the protection of natural and cultural resources and
leave no lasting trace on the land. Working with local, state and
national OHV groups, we have improved our ability to inform, train and
educate the riding public. Partner organizations such as *Tread
Lightly!* and *Leave No Trace* have worked to develop and disseminate
stewardship education materials and have worked with industry to
encourage responsible use marketing and messaging.

Collaboration with our stakeholders and partners continues to be a
crucial piece of BLM's OHV management strategy. In Colorado, OHV groups
have stepped forward to assist in the education of OHV users by
promoting responsible recreation use. The Stay the Trail program, a
joint project between the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition and
Federal agencies, reinforces and highlights responsible OHV use and
seeks to reduce irresponsible use, thus minimizing resource damage. In
Idaho, BLM partners with the state Fish and Game agency to implement the
CARE/SHARE program to build awareness and user ethics regarding public
access across private lands or ranching allotments.

I would like to share with you some before-and-after photos of
restoration work being done in Southern California with the Student
Conservation Association and the BLM. The projects are primarily focused
on restoring areas defined by travel management implementation
decisions. The emphasis is to protect the habitat of several endangered
species, including the desert tortoise, as well as to ensure the
viability of the designated travel network. As you can see, the efforts
have been a success. By using a variety of techniques, including
vertical mulching and re-texturing the ground surface to erase the
impacts, these crews are successfully restoring habitat and
rehabilitating degraded trails to prevent erosion.

The BLM is dedicated to improving the health of the land by reducing OHV
impacts. Defining a rational network of roads and trails on over 258
million acres of land is an enormously complex task. Over the next
decade, the BLM will work with the public to continue mapping the West's
public access travel networks. The BLM will continue to prioritize and
target resources and funding to develop and implement travel management
plans.

Through public land user education, law enforcement, resource
monitoring, public-private partnerships, and continued public
involvement in the land-use planning process, the BLM will move closer
toward this goal.

**[OHV Use within the National Park System]{.underline}**

The National Park System contains 391 units comprising approximately 79
million acres. The National Park Service's visitor use objective is to
provide opportunities for recreational activities that enable visitors
to experience the resources and values for which the park was
established while conserving park resources for future generations.

Under current regulations, motorized vehicle use occurs on park roads,
in parking areas and on routes specifically designated for off-road
vehicle use. The NPS currently administers over 8,000 miles of roads
within the National Park System that are open to the public.

In recent years the National Park Service has devoted substantial
resources to the study of appropriate methods of managing OHV use in
national parks. Given the wide variety of park units, the
appropriateness of OHV use will vary from park to park. An appropriate
park use is based upon the park's enabling legislation, as well as the
sensitivity of resources, values and visitor access.

[NPS Management and Policy]{.underline}

Generally, off-road motor vehicle use in national park units is governed
by NPS regulations adopted consistent with Executive Order 11644 (Use of
Off -road Vehicles on Public Lands, as amended by Executive Order
11989). The regulations found at Title 36 CFR 4.10, provide that OHV
routes and areas may be designated only in four types of park areas;
national recreation areas, national seashores, national lakeshores, and
national preserves, and only by special regulation. In accordance with
the executive order, OHV use may be allowed only in locations where
there will be no adverse impacts on the area's natural, cultural,
scenic, and esthetic values, and in consideration of other existing or
proposed recreational uses. As required by the executive order and the
NPS Organic Act, superintendents must close a designated OHV route
whenever the use is causing or will cause unacceptable impacts on the
soil, vegetation, wildlife, wildlife habitat, or cultural and historic
resources.

[Visitor Safety and Resource Protection]{.underline}

Of primary concern to park managers in providing for OHV access are
visitor safety and protection of park resources. Education and public
involvement are the cornerstones of Park Service management regarding
OHV use. Most parks use education as the initial compliance tool. This
is achieved by such means as making contact with individuals in parks,
developing interpretive and regulatory signage, enhancing website
development, as well as using outreach and partnerships with local
communities and user groups. Public involvement is also actively pursued
and emphasized during planning, the environmental compliance process,
and rulemaking for NPS areas with OHV use.

Park specific regulations provide for trail or area designation as well
as increased visitor safety and resource protection. Superintendents
manage OHV use through a designation or permit system, which may include
terms and conditions to control activities, restrict the level or season
of use, or the class of authorized vehicle. National Park Service staff
inventory impacts of OHV use and survey and monitor park resources to
assess conditions to ensure resource protection. Recreational access in
specific areas has been managed to protect and conserve park resources
and values such as historic and cultural resources, threatened and
endangered species, wetlands and water quality.

[Current Status]{.underline}

OHV use is associated with a wide range of recreational activities such
as sport hunting, fishing, and backcountry access. In most cases, OHV
use predates the establishment of the unit in which it occurs. Hence,
there is an established culture and traditional use pattern that must be
understood and integrated into management of OHVs. Modification and/or
control of a human activity with a pre-existing use pattern, such as
OHVs, is a challenge to park managers. The management of ORV use has
become more challenging due in part to increased park visitation and an
increased number of OHVs with technically improved operational
capabilities that allow them to access places never before available to
the general public.

Eight National Park areas with OHV use have park specific regulations.
There are an additional six parks that have initiated a planning process
and environmental compliance to promulgate special regulations to
authorize OHV use. The six units are: Cape Hatteras National Seashore,
Cape Lookout National Seashore, Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve,
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Curecanti National Recreation Area
and Lake Meredith National Recreation Area. Rulemaking is expected to be
completed within the next four-year period for most these units. The
agency is presently allocating a significant portion of available park
resources to manage the planning and compliance in these areas.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify on this significant
issue. I would be happy to answer any questions.

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