Youth from Group Home Reclaim Old Roads

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT NEWS RELEASE
Worland Field Office

Release Date: 05/19/13

Contacts:		Sarah Beckwith
		307-347-5207

Youth from Group Home Reclaim Old Roads

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Worland Field Office and the Big Horn Basin Adolescent Program in Basin, Wyo., came together recently for a day of hard work and some fun, too. The group reclaimed roads that are no longer used in the Lower Renner Wildlife Habitat Management Area.

Volunteers carry sagebrush to place on an old road.
Big Horn Basin Adolescent Program Group Leader Greg Gloy assists BLM Natural Resource Specialist C.J. Grimes in collecting sagebrush for the road reclamation.
BLM Law Enforcement Ranger Aaron Kania receives a helping hand from a few hard-working volunteers.
The volunteers were full of energy as they bounded up steep grades and used sagebrush to disguise and reclaim nine routes. "I know I've said it before, but this is really fun," said one of the volunteers. "I love cleaning-up and it's good exercise, too." The Big Horn Basin Adolescent Program specializes in helping troubled youth, and provides long-term care for boys and girls ages 10 through 17.

"The BLM wouldn't be able to do this kind of work without the dedication and enthusiasm of volunteers like these," said Law Enforcement Ranger Aaron Kania, who guided and worked with the volunteers throughout the day.

The project was the final piece of the reclamation puzzle for the Lower Renner Wildlife Habitat Management Area. The old routes were tilled by contractors last summer and then seeded. For the final project, the young volunteers placed limbs and sagebrush branches over the routes to break up the visual line and help protect the new seedlings.

On her way down a hillside, with Renner Reservoir sparkling below, one of the volunteers looked proudly back at the newly-rehabilitated route and said, "I want to bring my parents out here and show them all the work we did."

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.

--BLM--

Worland Field Office 101 South 23rd Worland, WY 82401

Last updated: 05-26-2010