BLM extends public comment period on Muddy Mountain Travel Plan

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Las Vegas Field Office (LVFO) has extended the public scoping period for the Muddy Mountains Travel Management Plans in response to requests from community members. The extended timeframe means that the comment period, which was currently set to close May 12, will now close on May 26.

This scoping period is the beginning of the planning process and focuses primarily on gathering information about routes and identifying resource concerns.

The BLM is seeking public comment regarding the use of the roads and trails in the Muddy Mountains area. This includes answers to questions like: Where do you go? Why do you go there? How would you like to get there? What types of conflicts do you see?
What activities bring you to the area? What resource concerns should be considered during the evaluation process?

The public can provide input on the existing travel network or on a specific area. For example comments could be made about the season and type of use for a given trail, road or destination and/or discuss the purpose of the trail or road.

Comments might also identify trails that are missing from the inventory or inaccuracies in the route network.

Comments may also provide information that has not been considered or raise an issue or concern with regards to public land resources.

An additional comment period will be available when the Draft Travel Management Plan and Environmental Assessment is released which is expected this fall.

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.

A report about a recent public input meeting held by the BLM in Overton can be read here from the May 3 edition of The Progress.

Interactive opportunities to review maps and provide comments are available at https://arcg.is/1zDWjr. More information about the project, including routes, recording of the virtual meeting and meeting materials can also be found at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023975/510.

Comments can be submitted in the following ways:
Email: BLM_NV_LVFO_Muddy_Mt_TMP@blm.gov
Online at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023975/510
Mail to BLM Las Vegas Field Office, Attn: Kenny Kendrick, Supervisory Resource Management Specialist, 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada 89130.