BLM Meeting SChedule for the Phx. South area

[Hackle]

I posted all these meetings on the Calendar. These are important meetings to keep OHV use in the minds of the BLM officials when creating the alternatives.

BLM invites you to participate in planning workshops

The Bureau of Land Management has prepared preliminary draft goals for the
Sonoran Desert National Monument and Phoenix South Resource Management
Plans to address the issues identified by the public during project
scoping. Please join us for one of the upcoming workshops to review these
preliminary draft goals. All workshops will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a brief
presentation followed by small group discussions on the goals.

Buckeye/Goodyear
Monday, Jan. 26, 2004
Estrella Mountain Community College, North Community Room
3000 N. Dysart Rd., Avondale, Arizona

Phoenix
Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004
BLM Phoenix Field Office
21605 N. 7th Ave., Phoenix, Arizona

Tonopah
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004
Ruth Fisher School
38201 W. Indian School Road, Tonopah, Arizona

Ajo
Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004
Bud Walker Community Center
290 E. 5th St., Ajo, Arizona

Tucson
Monday, Feb. 2, 2004
Northwest Neighborhood Center
2160 N. 6th Ave., Tucson, Arizona

Apache Junction
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004
Apache Junction Public Library, Senior Center Community Room
1177 N. Idaho Rd., Apache Junction, Arizona

Gila Bend
Wednesday, Feb. 4 2004
Gila Bend Union High School
308 N. Martin, Gila Bend, Arizona

The preliminary draft goals will be available at the meetings and may be
previewed at www.az.blm.gov.

We're sending you this email because you expressed interest in the planning
process. If you have received this email in error or you no longer wish to
receive information about this project, please let us know at our planning
email address, az_sdnm_phx_south@blm.gov.


Thank you,
Karen Kelleher
Planning Project Manager
az_sdnm_phx_south@blm.gov

[Sandee McCullen]

OHV Partners,
Along with the scoping meetings, (Jim listed) regarding the Sonoran Desert National Monument the BLM are putting together "advisory councils" to help manage the monument. These advisory councils work alot like the RAC (Resource Advisory Council) that advises the BLM on numerous issues.............. grazing, environmental, leases, land tenure/exchanges and OHV. They are now forming individual advisory teams (RRT's..... Rangeland Resource Team) to help manage specific areas. Tucson just put an RRT together for the new Las Cienegas National Conservation Area south of Tucson. If you think you might be interested let me know and I'll keep you on a list for when they actually call for nominations. These groups will report to the actual RAC (of which I am on.... for the next three years anyway).

The Bureau of Land Management’s Sonoran Desert National Monument has initiated the process of establishing an Advisory Council to advise the monument manager regarding management of the monument. This Advisory Council will be a formal council, subject to the provisions of the Federal Advisory Council Act (FACA).

This message is meant to alert you to the upcoming opportunity to nominate interested people for membership on the Advisory Council. We do not know when that opportunity will begin, as we only recently sent the draft Council Charter to Washington for approval. Approval normally takes several months to complete, but we wanted interested people and groups to know that this opportunity is coming.

The following is a list of the 12 positions that we anticipate will make up the Council; this list may change based upon review of the draft Charter by the BLM’s Washington Office and the Department of the Interior.

1. Two persons who represent Native American interests and who are selected from nominees submitted by the governing bodies of the following
tribes: Tohono O’odham Nation, Ak Chin Indian Community, Gila River Indian Community and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. 2. A person who represents and participates in what is commonly called dispersed recreation, such as hiking, camping, hunting, nature viewing, nature photography, bird watching, horseback riding, or trail walking. 3. A person who represents and participates in what is commonly called mechanized recreation or off-highway driving. 4. A person who represents the State of Arizona, to be appointed from nominees submitted by the Governor of Arizona. 5. A person who is a recognized environmental representative from Arizona. 6. A person who is an elected official from a city or community in the vicinity of the Monument. 7. A person who is a livestock grazing permittee or who represents the permittees on the allotments within the Monument. 8. A person who represents the rural communities around the Monument and who is selected at-large from these communities. 9. Two persons who represent the sciences of wildlife biology, archaeology, ecology, botany, history, social sciences or other applicable discipline. 10. A person who represents county interests, to be appointed from nominees submitted by the Supervisors of Maricopa and Pinal Counties.

Nominees for membership must be qualified through education, training, knowledge, or experience to give informed and objective advice regarding the purposes for which the Monument was established, have demonstrated experience or knowledge of the Monument, and have demonstrated a commitment to collaborate in seeking solutions to a wide spectrum of resource management issues. Council members must reside in Arizona or those portions of adjoining states which the BLM in Arizona administers (and including St. George, Utah). Council nominees must be supported by letters of recommendation from groups or interests they will represent.

When the Charter is approved, we will make a formal call for nominations through a Federal Register Notice. We will also send out media releases and we will use the e-mail system and the U.S. mail to assure we reach as many interested people and groups as practicable. That process will include more specifics and will include information on how to obtain nomination packets. There will be a 45 day period after publication of the Federal Register Notice during which nominations will be accepted by the BLM. The BLM will make recommendations on membership to the Secretary of the Interior, but the Secretary has the final say on who will become members.

Again, the BLM does not know when the formal call for nominations will be made, but this message alerts you to the upcoming opportunity and gives you time to think about who you or your group might want to nominate.