[Rockhounds] help w/BLM policy and practices for access to collecting sites

[Tim]

Just a couple quick observations based on my own experience. I ran across a
similar situation on mixed private/BLM land near Vantage WA. They were
constructing a wind power site and they had blocked all access with a huge
gate that closed off the main road into the area. So I parked at the gate
and started to walk the road (this was Memorial Day weekend and no one was
using the road), looking for chips of my quarry (petrified wood, for those
of you familiar with Vantage). I got about 1/4 mile when a truck came
screaming from the opposite direction; apparently they had a "guard"
watching the road and he insisted that I was trespassing. After a few hems
and haws he admitted that I could walk anywhere on the road that I wanted
since it accessed a huge tract of BLM land, even though it went right
through their construction site, but couldn't walk through the site, so I
thought that was fair. In short, the guys on the site don't always know what
they are talking about or conveniently "forget" the regs when they want to
keep people out. 

Also, the BLM usually does know what is going on, on both their and adjacent
land; but if the construction doesn't cross BLM land or use one of their
roads they might not have a clue, so you probably should have called the
county and asked for the county roads manager, who would presumably be able
to answer all your questions.  If a private party wants to use a county road
for a major construction project, they have to get permission from the
county to do so (i.e., they have to pay for any reconstruction that may be
necessary after they are finished). 

Finally, the BLM builds fences across their own roads as a common practice.
If it doesn't have an official designation (road # or similar) in their
roads system, it isn't a road in their minds. Fences have been built across
any number of roads that we use to access dig sites, usually they are just a
nuisance but occasionally they make access practically impossible. They
solve two of the BLM's problems at the same time: keeping the cows off the
main road and keeping the people off of the "unofficial" roads. There ain't
a damn thing you can do about it, either. 

Tim Fisher 
Ore-ROCK-On! 
Email address at http://OreRockOn.com


-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
[mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of DonH
Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 10:39 AM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: [Rockhounds] help w/BLM policy and practices for access to
collecting sites


Greetings collectors,

I have some experience with BLM land, but nothing like this.  Some of 
you have a vast amount of experience, especially with odd situations, 
and might be able to point me in the right direction.  I realize that 
the ultimate answer will be "contact the BLM," but the person to whom 
I've already spoken wasn't much help.

My mission was to find an old tremolite mine and collect some samples 
for a colleague in the USGS.  Since I was off the clock, I was on 
"unofficial gov't business" and therefore was only operating under the 
rights and privileges afforded to every citizen.

I called the Utah BLM office and asked about the status of the property. 
I knew the mine had been long closed and satellite photos showed a 
remediated property, but you never know who might still have a claim. 
The woman could find no record of the mine, which surprises me.  I gave 
her the lat/long and UTM coordinates, but she insisted on having the 
township & range, so I had to go dig that information out of MAS/MILS 
(thanks Gary for selling the MAS/MILS data!)  By the way, she had never 
heard of MAS/MILS either. (And shouldn't the BLM be using point 
coordinates by now, instead of a system in vogue when dinosaurs were 
roaming the earth?)  In any case, she determined that there was no 
activity in that entire section.  So far, so good.

I went out there yesterday, and as I rounded the northern point of the 
mountain range, I was surprised to see a lot of activity--harvesters, 
trucks, and new fences.  As I passed an access road that was on the map, 
I noticed a section of fence across it--not a gate, but a fence.  That 
option was out.  However the map showed another road that would bring me 
close to the site.  As I drove on the "main" county road (graded and 
gravelled dirt), looking for one of the several access roads that would 
eventually take me where I wanted to go, I kept being blocked by fence, 
even though a side road was clearly there.

Finally I saw some large water tank trucks entering a filling station 
through a gate, so I followed them in and talked to one of the drivers. 
  While he was informative, he was also a bit firm in insisting that 
this was private property and they were building a wind farm.  I 
expressed surprise, since the BLM had told me this land was completely 
clear; I asked if he meant they had a lease, and he said no, as far as 
he knew they owned the land.  I pointed out that there were no signs, 
and as far as I knew, no one could block access to BLM land whether or 
not they owned the adjacent land outright.  He said, "well, if someone 
sees you out here without a safety vest and hardhat, they're going to 
come and get you."  At that point I had all the useful information this 
fellow could offer, so I told him I would handle any situations as they 
arose, and I was still going to exercise my rights to access the BLM 
land, and thanked him for his time.  I should mention that the 
construction in question was apparently far down the road, out of sight, 
and the area in which I was operating was nothing but rangeland and 
mountains.

I drove a little further down the road and saw a new cattle guard across 
the final side access road I could have used.  Finally!  I rumbled down 
the road and found my target.

My questions are these, then:

1.  Isn't the BLM supposed to keep track of current land use?  Why 
didn't they know about all this activity in the section?

2.  If someone has erected a fence across what is clearly an access road 
to BLM land, what course of action do I have?  Must I file a written 
complaint?  And to whom?

3.  Would it be worth my time to even call again and ask to speak to 
someone else about the situation?

Any advice about what to say, what to document, and how to file a 
complaint would be appreciated.  Also, if I have misunderstood the 
legalities of the situation, please let me know so I can approach this 
from the correct aspect.

Thanks,
Don


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