The Bureau of Land Management is hoping to implement what it calls the Blueprint for 21st Century Recreation, and a new identifies ways to achieve those goals.
The BLM manages 245 million acres, and the lays out ambitious plans for recreation on that land. That includes diversifying resources to support recreation, developing partnerships and making access more inclusive.
That comes as visitation is increasing and budgets aren鈥檛 keeping pace, said I Ling Thompson, director of the Foundation for America鈥檚 Public Lands, the BLM鈥檚 official charitable arm.
The foundation recently organized roundtables to discuss the BLM鈥檚 plans with dozens of recreation groups, businesses and local, state and tribal government representatives.
鈥淓veryone that came and participated in these sessions recognized that the bureau is trying to run this strategy on a shoestring budget,鈥� Thompson said.
The Foundation put out a report this month with recommendations, like setting up a dedicated partnership office within the bureau.
鈥淭here are people who care very deeply about particular places the BLM manages, and it gives them a chance to have input into how it's managed over time, as well as to actually do and implement that management,鈥� Thompson said.
Participants shared frustrations with the BLM鈥檚 slow infrastructure planning process. They also recommended better outreach to underrepresented communities and a push for more appropriations.
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