BLM Seeks Input on Muddy Mtns. Travel Mgmt. Plan

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Las Vegas Field Office is proposing to develop a Travel Management Plan for the 123,400-acre Muddy Mountains area located 25 miles southwest of Logandale.

The scoping period for the plan opened last week and will close on May 12. The effort is part of an ongoing initiative to increase access to outdoor recreation. During this comment period, the BLM’s intent is to gather information about routes and identify resource concerns.

“We look forward to the public’s valuable feedback to help develop the Muddy Mountains Travel Management Plan,” said BLM Las Vegas Field Office Acting Manager Catrina Williams. “The most helpful comments at this time will be those that focus on specific trails or areas; provide information on the season and type of use for the trail or road; identify its destination and purpose and provide information that has not yet been considered.”

Two meetings are planned as part of the scoping period.
An in-person local meeting will be held on April 27 at 6 pm in the Overton Community Center at 320 N. Moapa Blvd. The first half-hour of this meeting will be and open house with specialists available to answer questions. A presentation will begin at 6:30 pm. Then public comment will be received from 7 to 8 p.m.

A virtual meeting will be held on May 2 beginning at 6 pm. Preregistration for this meeting can be done at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lmQBAFR1RG2rvo6d6kd8KQ)
In the online version, a presentation will be given at 6 pm which will be followed by a question-and-answer portion and finally a comment period. The meeting will be recorded and posted on BLM Nevada’s YouTube channel.

Muddy Mountains was designated as a Special Recreation Management Area in the 1998 Las Vegas Resource Management Plan. The Travel Management Plan will include only BLM-managed land and will identify and designate routes as open to the public, for administrative use only, and to be closed and rehabilitated. The Travel Management Plan may also identify new routes.

In December 2022, the BLM Las Vegas Field Office conducted a preliminary route inventory of the existing transportation system. The inventory phase included both desktop analysis of existing route data and on-site ground truthing to generate one data set. The public will have an opportunity to review the data at https://arcg.is/1zDWjr and during the planned meetings.

More information about the project and routes can be found at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023975/510.

Comments submitted by May 12, 2023 will be most helpful in development of the Draft Environmental Assessment and Travel Management Plan. All comments received will be considered and evaluated for preparation of the documents anticipated for public input during the Summer of 2023.

Comments can be submitted by email to BLM_NV_LVFO_Muddy_Mt_TMP@blm.gov; online at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023975/510; or by mail to BLM Las Vegas Field Office, Attn: Kenny Kendrick, Supervisory Resource Management Specialist, 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada 89130.