As one of those "Interior" types" who worked on, helped develop, consulted on and even worse , tried to manage "Wilderness Areas(WA), other protected areas' and those even more problematic " Wilderness Study Areas(WSA's) [ area's proposed as Wilderness Areas and awaiting Congress to OK the designation, but managed as WA's as such [Sometimes for many years] until then or not]
, agree that the whole process (sort of like this sentence) is long, complicated, confusing and necessary because it seems that every interest ($ too) gets a say in the process. All that said, it is amazing that there are any protected areas at all out on our public lands.
Generally every WS,or WSA , is managed for certain qualities and have some existing uses (grazing, roads, hunting, etc) that are allowed to remain for a certain time period with or w/o other restrictions. Sometimes it gets really complicated. For example, vehicle access into Little High Rock Canyon (Now part of a National Conservation Area -then a WSA and National Register Historic District) was closed because of many important cultural resources. Vandals destroyed the protective closure at the mouth of the canyon , drove into it, looted and vandalized several caves and shelters, then left with their haul. We (BLM) on the other hand, had to follow the law and were not allowed to drive in and evaluate and repair the damage and had to use helicopters to fly in new metal grating and out gear to protect the caves and shelters-at a pretty hefty and unplanned for expense. Yep another day of fun and adventures in BLM!
Smoke
Edited by Smokecreek1, 06 June 2022 - 08:14 PM.