MISSOULA – As it begins revising its 30-year-old Resource Management Plan (RMP), the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Missoula Field Office wants to make public involvement in the process one of its top priorities.
The RMP, a key source for the field office’s planning and operations of 156,000 acres of surface BLM-managed lands and about 268,000 acres of sub-surface minerals, provides goals, objectives and direction to the field office for managing those public lands. The Missoula RMP revision process could last up to four years and will include many opportunities for public involvement along the way.
As part of a pre-scoping outreach designed to engage the public at an early stage in the planning process, the field office will hold a series of public workshops:
• April 12, 3-6 p.m., at the Lubrecht Forest-Castles Forestry Center in Greenough (38689 Hwy 200 East)
• April 13, 5-8 p.m., at the Granite County Museum in Phillipsburg (135 S. Sansome St.)
• April 14, 3-6 p.m., at the Downtown Holiday Inn in Missoula (200 South Pattee)
“These workshops, which we call ‘public envisioning,’ will help us get various perspectives on what’s important about public lands in western Montana, hear specific issues people are concerned about, begin to develop relationships and set the stage for collaboration and public involvement throughout the BLM’s land use planning process,” said Joe Ashor, Missoula Field Manager.
As part of a broader, bureau-wide effort to improve the way RMPs are updated, the Missoula Field Office is using elements of the BLM’s new Planning 2.0 initiative. This process sets the framework to respond to landscape-scale resource issues while increasing opportunities for early engagement by state and local government, tribes, partner agencies, stakeholders and the public.
Since the beginning of March, the Missoula BLM staff, with the assistance of facilitators from Kearns and West, has conducted listening sessions with more than 50 individuals and organizations throughout the planning area.
Ashor said he has four main objectives for the April workshops: “Share information about the BLM’s new planning process, Planning 2.0, and how we’re applying the principles to our RMP revision; share what we’ve learned so far in the listening sessions; continue listening to people about how they’d like to see us manage public lands; and give people a chance to engage with each other and begin to understand each other’s viewpoints and concerns.”
Ashor looks forward to hearing whatever issues may come up during the workshops, “Envisioning is an excellent step forward in how the BLM engages the public. We’re already seeing the immeasurable value in truly listening to concerns and working with individuals in a collaborative process. We’ll be continuing this dialogue into the future and developing a plan that reflects the shared visions of public-land users.”
For more information about the RMP revision, Planning 2.0 and the upcoming workshops contact Maggie Ward, the Missoula RMP Project Leader at 406-329-3914, or email blm_mt_missoularmp@blm.gov.
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