KINGMAN — A federal agency gave a presentation Monday to the county supervisors on several projects on public lands in the Arizona Strip.
The Bureau of Land Management presented to the supervisors the Arizona Strip Travel Management Plan and the Uinkaret Vegetation Treatment Project. Gathering public input either at scheduled meetings or through its Web site, the BLM plans to provide access in the Arizona Strip for the public while protecting natural resources and minimize conflicts between land users. The BLM also proposes restoring the vegetation in the Uinkaret Mountains.
In other action, the board also voted to oppose further closing by the BLM of federal lands to grazing in the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument. Grazing could help reduce the chance of a catastrophic wildfire in the area. Most fires are made by lightning strikes not by humans. The board drafted a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The letter also objected to acquiring private lands in the region by the BLM.
The board also voted for a resolution supporting the transfer of all federal public lands to the states to be managed by the state public lands for uses such as hunting, fishing, grazing, recreation and economic activity. The proposal would encourage elected officials from other western states, cities and counties to support the transfer. The federal lands that would not be transferred to states include national parks, tribal lands and federal lands that have pre-existing grazing and water rights.
The resolution argued that the Eastern states in the country have less than 5 percent of their lands controlled by the federal government while Western states have more than 50 percent of the lands federally controlled.
However, Arizonans overwhelming defeated Proposition 120 in the 2012 general election. That proposition would have changed the Arizona Constitution declaring state sovereignty over all public lands except tribal lands and military forts.