| Contacts: | Shannon Borders, 970-240-5399 |
Local residents recognized as “Land Managers of the Year” by the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition (07-30-12)
MONTROSE, Colo. – In June, the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition recognized Chad Greiner and Al Griffin with the Montrose Bureau of Land Management’s Off-highway Vehicle Crew as “Land Managers of the Year.”
Greiner and Griffin work primarily in the BLM’s Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area on the Montrose OHV Crew (funded by the Colorado State Parks OHV Sticker Program and the BLM) during the summer.
They are also local middle school teachers and have been instrumental in supervising the Columbine Middle School dirt bike club for more than 10 years. In addition to guiding club rides at Peach Valley to instill positive land use ethics in the young riders, they also offer training for riders of all ages.
Greiner is certified through the All-terrain Vehicle Safety Institute to teach ATV safety classes. Griffin is certified through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation to teach motorcycle safety classes. Both instructors use the GGNCA Peach Valley Recreation Site to provide these trainings to agency personnel, cooperating agencies and members of the public.
The COHVCO annual conference in Glenwood Springs provides OHV enthusiasts and land managers an opportunity to share successes and failures, discuss ideas for the future, analyze legislation that affects OHV use and to work on OHV management issues.
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.
2465 South Townsend Avenue Montrose, CO 81401