letter from blm employee

marvin

ZINGER
Location
Price, Utah
The following is a letter to the editor from Bill Allinson who has worked for the Price BLM Field Office as an OHV Volunteer Coordinator (paid by the State of Utah OHV fund).

Bill has accomplished MUCH in his time spent working with BLM. Many thanks to Bill for his hard work, dedication and positive attitude.

AJP

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I coordinate volunteers in the Price office of the Bureau of Land Management. My position is funded by Utah State Parks and Recreation through off-highway-vehicle registration fees. I have read many comments about the damage from all-terrain-vehicle users. I would like to make a few positive comments about the volunteer time rendered by OHV users.

I work in the San Rafael Desert, maintaining about 640 miles of trails enjoyed by hikers, bikers, horse riders and OHV users. During the three years I have worked at the BLM I have coordinated approximately 7,000 volunteer hours from the OHV users to help maintain the trails. The OHV clubs help with educating riders about trail usage. They provide litter bags, distribute maps and help maintain the trails. In a four-month period, OHV users helped install signage on the trails and produce a San Rafael trails map. The printing of 30,000 maps was paid by OHV registration fees.

I have heard concerns from environmental groups about the trails, and I've invited them to participate with trail maintenance, but I haven't had one hour of volunteer time from those groups.

Bill Allinson

Riverton
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
How very interesting!

Where was that letter sent? I'd like to see if/when it gets printed....
 
This letter was submitted a few days later.

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I want to respond to Bill Allison's letter about off-road-vehicle group volunteer work, in which he claims he has not "had one hour of volunteer time from these [environmental] groups" ("OHV volunteers," Forum, Dec. 20).

Environmental groups such as the Wasatch Mountain Club, the Sierra Club and Wilderness Volunteers have been doing extensive work in the San Rafael Swell and on other Bureau of Land Management lands for many years. Projects have included fence and parking area construction, land status and activity monitoring and invasive plant control.

Some of the off-road routes that have been constructed and maintained by ORV groups are not in the approved BLM travel plan, and these user-created routes are being legally disputed by environmental groups due to their impacts on wilderness study areas, riparian areas and wildlife habitat.

Members of environmental and hiking groups are always willing to work with federal agencies and other users to carry out projects that truly benefit the land.

John Veranth ?Conservation co-director ?Wasatch Mountain Club

Salt Lake City
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Veranth claims his group has done volunteer work in the Swell. The Swell is managed by the Price BLM Field Office, so Allinson would be aware of these volunteer projects IF they actually happened.
 

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
This guy is probably getting hammered with emails from your average slctrib reader (aka, idiots) so I think we should send some emails to him thanking him for what he has done and that we support him.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
I was going to say I remember that when it appeared in the SL Trib a couple of weeks back. I met Bill at my Tread Lightly course training this last year, a real stand up fellow. He put alot of work in along with the BLM's GIS specialist to get the new map in the flesh.
 

_Auzzy_

Web Wheeling Extraordinaire
Location
Richfield Utah
This letter was submitted a few days later.

*****************************************
I want to respond to Bill Allison's letter about off-road-vehicle group volunteer work, in which he claims he has not "had one hour of volunteer time from these [environmental] groups" ("OHV volunteers," Forum, Dec. 20).

Environmental groups such as the Wasatch Mountain Club, the Sierra Club and Wilderness Volunteers have been doing extensive work in the San Rafael Swell and on other Bureau of Land Management lands for many years. Projects have included fence and parking area construction, land status and activity monitoring and invasive plant control.

Some of the off-road routes that have been constructed and maintained by ORV groups are not in the approved BLM travel plan, and these user-created routes are being legally disputed by environmental groups due to their impacts on wilderness study areas, riparian areas and wildlife habitat.

Members of environmental and hiking groups are always willing to work with federal agencies and other users to carry out projects that truly benefit the land.

John Veranth ?Conservation co-director ?Wasatch Mountain Club

Salt Lake City
*****************************

Veranth claims his group has done volunteer work in the Swell. The Swell is managed by the Price BLM Field Office, so Allinson would be aware of these volunteer projects IF they actually happened.



So I just put a new pistol grip handle on my 12Ga. riiiiight......lol j.k props to the BLM Guy, definently need a couple dozen more like him!!!
 

Skylinerider

Wandering the desert
Location
Ephraim
I was going to say I remember that when it appeared in the SL Trib a couple of weeks back. I met Bill at my Tread Lightly course training this last year, a real stand up fellow. He put alot of work in along with the BLM's GIS specialist to get the new map in the flesh.

Ok, now I remember Bill. He is a great guy, Can give Kurt a run for his money in knowledge about the Swell. If anybody knows what goes down as far as the swell it's him.
 
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