MAZAMAS AND OUTDOOR ALLIANCE WEIGH IN ON BLM LAND USE POLICY

The Bureau of Land Management, with the help of the Outdoor Alliance and Mazamas in Portland, organized a public workshop on February 5, 2013 to collect data about outdoor recreation throughout Western Oregon. Bringing together an overwhelming crowd of more than 200 people, the event gathered much-needed information to aid the BLM's Resource Management Planning (RMP) by actually mapping the role, value, importance and demand for outdoor recreation.

The workshop was the final event in a series of four held throughout Oregon. The data collected will be used to make decisions about management on 2.5 million acres of existing and future recreation areas in Western Oregon as well as the demand for the development of new opportunities for the next twenty years. The OA and Mazamas were honored to be part of a federal government initiative to let the voices of the recreation community be heard. The BLM's RMP workshops were innovative in reaching out to recreationalists before the writing of plans and should be applied throughout the U.S.