Time to comment on use of public lands
It’s the season for commenting on documents that will have an impact on how your public lands are managed, at least it seems that way.
The latest document on the public-input-requested list is the Lake Mead National Recreation Area Foundation Document, which is government-speak for a document that “describes a shared understanding of what is most important about the park,” or recreation area in this case.
In an open letter to we “neighbors, friends and partners,” acting Superintendent Patrick Gubbins explained that a “Foundation Document involves revisiting a national park unit’s core mission and significance, most important resources and values, and the interpretive themes that tell the park’s important stories.”
He explained, “Although the Foundation Document is not a decision-making document and does not include actions or management strategies, it describes a shared understanding of what is most important about the park. In this capacity, the Foundation Document will re-establish the underlying guidance for future management and planning decisions for the National Park Service at Lake Mead National Recreation Area.”
I’m not sure what is meant by the term “shared understanding,” but just saying the words makes me wonder. In today’s world, coming to an understanding in regard to a public issue usually involves embracing only the politically correct side of a situation, not necessarily the correct one. While the Foundation Document will not include management actions or strategies, it will provide justification for such actions and decisions at a future date.
When Lake Mead National Recreation Area was created in October 1964, the enabling legislation directed the Secretary of the Interior to manage the site “for general purposes of public recreation, benefit and use, and in a manner that will preserve, develop, and enhance, so far as practicable, the recreation potential, and in a manner that will preserve the scenic, historic, scientific, and other important features of the area …”
According to the draft Foundation Document, “The purpose of Lake Mead National Recreation Area is to provide diverse public recreation, benefit, and use on Lakes Mead and Mohave and surrounding lands in a manner that preserves the ecological, geological, cultural, historical, scenic, scientific and wilderness resources of the park.”
So far, so good.
Furthermore, the enabling legislation directs the Secretary to “permit hunting, fishing and trapping on the lands and waters under this jurisdiction within the recreation area in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations of the United States and the respective States.”
My vote, of course, is to see these and other recreational opportunities not only continued, but expanded. We are talking about a recreation area after all.
Information about the Foundation Document process is available online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov. Be sure to take a look at the draft document in the Lake Mead NRA Foundation Newsletter, which also is where comments can be submitted.
BIG GAME SEASON DATES
Big game season dates, firearm carry during archery seasons and a three-year review of black bear harvest through hunting are on the agenda when the State Board of Wildlife Commissioners meets Friday and Saturday at Lake Mead Water Safety Center, 115 Boulder Beach Road within Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday. An agenda, support material for agenda items and a map can all be found online at ndow.org. Should you choose to attend, tell the ranger at the Lake Mead fee booth you are there for the commission meeting.
Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His “In the Outdoors” column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.
