| Contacts: | David Boyd, Public Affairs Specialist, (970) 876-9008 |
McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area launches Facebook page (04-05-12)
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Bureau of Land Management’s McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area has its own Facebook site to help keep the public engaged and updated on the latest events and conditions in this popular area near Grand Junction, Colo.
“This Facebook site is another way we hope to keep the public engaged with this remarkable area,” said McInnis Canyons NCA Manager Katie Stevens. “Facebook offers a great opportunity to share the latest trail and water conditions, news, photos, videos, and other information about McInnis Canyons.”
Located west of Grand Junction, 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. The 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.
To visit and like the McInnis Canyons NCA Facebook page, log on to: http://www.facebook.com/BLMMcInnisCanyonNCA#!/BLMMcInnisCanyonNCA?sk=info
For more information about McInnis Canyons NCA, call 970 244-3000 or log on to: 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