| Contacts: | Tom Alvarez, Public Affairs Specialist, (970) 244-3097 |
BLM to celebrate McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area 10th Anniversary
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Grand Junction Field Office, (GJFO) and Friends of McInnis Canyons invite the public to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area (NCA). BLM State Director Helen Hankins and former U.S. Senator Wayne Allard will open the celebration at 1:00 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 6, at the Devils Canyon Trailhead, off Kings View Road, south of Interstate 70 from exit 19 in Fruita.
Located west of Grand Junction, near Fruita, Colo., McInnis Canyons NCA offers a dramatic, colorful and stimulating background for a variety of interests such as hiking, rafting, mountain-biking, off-road vehicle use in designated areas and viewing pictograph and petroglyph sites. Internationally known Kokopelli Trail offers 140 miles of trail leading to Moab, Utah. Important fossils have been uncovered during more than a century of excavation and remnants of the Old Spanish Trail provide a glimpse of past western expansion travel routes.
McInnis Canyons NCA includes more than 75,000 acres of the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness and the second largest concentration of natural arches in North America. The area is also important habitat for wildlife such as desert bighorn sheep, collared lizards, mountain lions, many species of raptors, and river otters. McInnis Canyons NCA encompasses more than 123,000 acres of BLM managed public lands on the western slope of Colorado. It is one of 16 NCAs in the west and part of BLM's National Landscape Conservation System, a unique network of special places that serve as scenic showcases for the conservation, protection, and restoration efforts of BLM's multiple use mission. These treasured landscapes combine for more than 27 million of the 253 million total acres of western public lands managed by the BLM in the western United States.
The Friends of McInnis Canyons will also lead several special anniversary hikes and rides on Sunday, Nov. 7. For more information call the BLM GJFO Visitor Information desk or NCA Manager Katie Stevens at 970-244-3000 and visit the website at http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/nca/mcnca.html.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
2815 H Road Grand Junction, CO 81506