BLM Utah Connecting With Communities Project

Background: The Utah Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages 23 million acres adjacent to many local communities in Utah. In an effort to connect with Utah⿿s communities, the BLM seeks to focus resources of the Recreation and Visitor Services Program to achieve social, economic, and environmental goals of local communities and provide more benefits for mutually shared customers. The BLM⿿s Recreation and Visitor Service Program proposes to partner with ⿿community networks of service providers⿝ to help with planning to manage recreation settings, services, and facilities, and in so doing provide positive recreation experiences and outcomes socially and economically for Utah communities. Objectives: The primary objective is for the BLM to partner with an organization that will lead efforts to reach out to communities and stakeholders and develop plans and concepts that make the most of Utah⿿s public land treasures to: ⿢ Capitalize on its recreation brand of America⿿s ⿿Backyard to Backcountry⿝ treasure, consistently coordinating with community and regional landscape-level representatives when planning and managing recreation settings, services, and facilities. ⿢ Prioritize recreation areas that provide the most significant public benefits ⿢ Leverage financial resources through community partner organizations to ensure that top priority sites and services are maintained. The strategic focus for accomplishing this includes the following elements: ⿢ Proactively engage with community networks of service providers. ⿢ Plan to achieve specific and desired benefits to the community. ⿢ Create collaborative recreation management plans. ⿢ Give priority to those recreation opportunities that promise the most significant social and economic benefits, that are within the productive capacity of the community⿿s delivery systems, and that best fit the character/setting of place-based recreation Public Benefit: The development of public land management strategies that are responsive with local communities who wish to pro-actively optimize their public lands and create long term economic drivers, a detailed analysis of recreation opportunities and how they fit with conservation and resource extraction is needed. Examples abound of places where strong communication and a commitment to partnerships have led to public land management strategies that benefit local communities, facilitate greater well- being and economic benefits for communities, their residents and public land visitors.