Reprinted by permission from the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) – https://mic.org
The MIC and other outdoor recreation industry groups applauded a recent secretarial order that will help prevent the sale of public lands important to outdoor recreation while ensuring that public access be a key consideration in land exchanges.
The U.S. Department of the Interior last month released Secretarial Order 3373, which directs the Bureau of Land Management to formally consider what impact the disposal or exchange of BLM land will have on the public’s ability to access federal lands for recreation. “This order will help ensure that the Bureau of Land Management considers public access to public lands,” Acting Secretary David Bernhardt said.
“This is great news for motorized recreationists because some tracts of BLM land may contain trails or routes important to ATV, dirt bike and side-by-side users, or they may be the sole access points that link key trail systems to one another,” said Tim Buche, MIC president and CEO. “Now, impacts to recreation will be considered before the BLM acts to dispose of or exchange system lands so we can better protect access. Secretarial Order 3373 will help the BLM meet its mission to sustain its lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The positive economic impact of recreation globally, and OHV recreation specifically, warrants that BLM consider how its decisions on lands impact these activities.”
The MIC, SVIA and ROHVA have been working with the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable to encourage policies that support the growth of the outdoor recreation economy. The ORR is America’s leading coalition of the outdoor recreation trade associations and organizations.
“With this announcement, we anticipate that more public lands with recreation assets will remain public and new areas will be identified for recreation access,” said Jessica Wahl, executive director of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable.