| Contacts: | Tom Alvarez, Public Affairs Specialist, (970) 244-3097 |
Dominguez-Escalante Advisory Council To Hold First Meeting
The first meeting of the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area Advisory Council will be held on January 5, 2011, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Bill Heddles Recreation Center, 530 Gunnison River Drive, Delta, Colo. 81416. The 10-member council advises the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), on a variety of planning and management issues associated with the resource management planning process for the Dominguez-Escalante NCA and Dominguez Canyon Wilderness.
Future meetings for 2011 will be scheduled at this meeting. Meetings are anticipated to occur monthly, and may occur as frequently as every two weeks during intensive phases of the planning process. Dates, times and agendas for these additional meetings will be announced through local media and on the BLM's Web site for the Dominguez-Escalante planning effort, http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/nca/denca/denca_rmp.html.
Meetings are open to the public. The public may present written comments to the council. Each formal council meeting will also have 30 minutes at the end of the meeting allocated for hearing public comments. Depending on the number of persons wishing to comment and time available, the time for individual oral comments may be limited. For more information contact Katie Stevens, Dominguez-Escalante NCA Manager, 970-244-3000.
The Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area encompasses 209,610 acres of BLM managed land in Mesa, Delta and Montrose counties in western Colorado. Within the NCA, 66,280 acres make up the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area, which was part of the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Study Area. Long known for their scenic value, these lands are popular for those wanting to see the spectacular canyon country of the Uncompahgre Plateau. Red-rock canyons and sandstone bluffs hold geological and paleontological resources spanning 600 million years, as well as many cultural and historic sites. Ute Tribes today consider these pinyon-juniper covered lands an important connection to their ancestral past. The Escalante, Cottonwood, Little- and Big Dominguez Creeks cascade through sandstone canyon walls that drain the eastern Uncompahgre Plateau. Nearly 30 miles of the Gunnison River flow through the NCA. The Old Spanish National Historic Trail, a 19th Century land trade route, lies within the NCA. A variety of wildlife call the area home, including desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, golden eagle, turkey, elk, mountain lion, black bear, and the collared lizard.
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