BLM Honors Employee for Exemplary Service in Recreation Management

The American Recreation Coalition (ARC) will present the Bureau of Land Management’s 2006 Legends Award to BLM employee Tom Folks in recognition of his contributions to recreation management. Folks, the Recreation, Wilderness and Archaeology Team leader for BLM’s Arizona Strip District, is one of several government employees being honored for their public service during the ARC’s Great Outdoors Week (June 12-16).

“Tom Folks is an inspiration to us all at the Bureau of Land Management,” BLM Deputy Director Jim Hughes, said. “I am delighted that he is being honored today with this prestigious award.”

BLM Deputy Director Jim Hughes, Tom Folks and Derrick Crandall, President, American Recreation Coalition.

Derrick Crandall, ARC President said, "Tom Folks is an avid outdoorsman in his private life and long-time public servant in recreation management. His empathy for the recreation needs of Americans and his commitment to forging sustainable partnerships in the recreation arena have benefited countless visitors to the public lands of Arizona and the southwest."

Throughout his 29-year tenure with the Bureau, Folks continually sought opportunities to enhance the experience of visitors to the public lands by anticipating recreation and technological trends, translating his ideas into replicable models for managers, and pursuing creative public-private partnerships. His achievements represent several firsts for the BLM in recreation management that continue to serve both the agency and the public today. Folks’ accomplishments include:

• Helped develop a three-way partnership in 1996 with the Arizona Strip Interpretative Association (ASIA), Northern Arizona University (NAU), and the BLM-Arizona Arizona Strip District to manage visitation experiences in Paria Canyon and Coyote Buttes as one of the 18 original national BLM fee demonstration projects
• Wrote the 1999 internal publication, “Managing Remoteness on the Arizona Strip,” and developed the related National Training Center course, “Recreation Planning, Effective Engagement in BLM’s Land Use Planning Process”, which allow the BLM to match visitors to the appropriate site and location based on their equipment and experience;
• Promoted an increase in accessible recreation opportunities in remote locations such as Stateline Campground along the Arizona Trail and the Vermilion Cliffs Highways project in northern Arizona;
• Assisted in the completion of some of the BLM’s first wilderness inventories; and
• Built public support for the BLM’s recreation planning efforts that have resulted in the authorization of such events as the Rhino Motorcycle Rally.

In addition to his current position at BLM-Arizona, Tom Folks has served in a variety of roles at the Bureau, including: park ranger, cartographer, outdoor recreation planner, and instructor. He is one of the BLM’s experts on the Wilderness Act and the management of wilderness, recreation resources, and the applications of benefits-based management to recreation.

Each year, the BLM honors one employee with a Legends Award for his/her long-term personal efforts to enhance the outdoor experiences of visitors to Federal public lands and waters. This year, the BLM adapted its award criteria to match those recommended by the ARC and other participating agencies. An interdisciplinary BLM team evaluated nominees based on their extraordinary individual efforts that have expanded and enhanced recreational opportunities through public/private partnerships, or have increased participation in outdoor recreation through innovative programs based upon public/private partnerships.

The public can access a complete listing of Great Outdoors Week events and activities by visiting the following website: http://www.funoutdoors.com/taxonomy/view/or/75

The BLM manages more land – 261 million surface acres – than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western States, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1.8 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. 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, and cultural resources on the public lands.

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