• BLM Worland Field Office Travel Route Inventory

    Logan Simpson conducted route inventories of 3,429 miles and captured over 9,000 geotagged photos across 1,710,089 acres in the Worland Field Office in Wyoming. We used BLM’s GTLF standard in conjunction with a customized data dictionary. The inventory team maintained photos and track logs to document conditions and location of infrastructure such as campsites, signs, gates, unexpected trail terminations, etc. Inventory crews camped on BLM land during the inventory to avoid daily commuting, resulting in higher (inventoried) miles per day. This approach allowed the team to complete the project on budget and within the period of performance. Special consideration was given to the season in which inventory was conducted to ensure an accurate travel network was documented. Conducting the inventory around hunting season resulted in the documentation of routes that only have heavy use during that time of year.

  • Little Snake Route Evaluation, Travel Management Plan, and EA

    The BLM Little Snake Field Office route evaluation and travel management plan (TMP) is creating a new model for controversial transportation plans. Logan Simpson conducted evaluation, NEPA, and travel management planning tasks, including an EA, for 800 miles of roads, highways, and trails in the Hiawatha, Sand Wash, and Bears Ears travel planning areas in northwestern Colorado. The goal of the TMP is to create a travel network that is logical and sustainable, and also meets the increasingly diverse transportation, access, and recreational needs of the public. The EA analyzes the proposed plan and the alternatives that were considered during the planning process. Resources in the planning area include wildlife, cultural resources, grazing, energy and minerals, rights-of-way, paleontological resources, and recreation. We used Logan Simpson’s Travel Resource Analysis Model (TRAM) evaluation tool, which builds on the fundamental requirements set in the resource management plan to identify the benefits and risks associated with each route. TRAM allows NEPA data and guidance to be viewed in real time and creates an automatic administrative record of project details.

     

    We also used unconventional public involvement activities to engage stakeholders and cooperating agencies early in the planning process. We conducted public open houses inviting the public to engage early in the review of inventoried routes, evaluation criteria for route evaluation, identification of scoping issues, and review of proposed alternatives. We also used an online commenting tool allowing the public to comment on individual routes in addition to general comments on the travel system.

     

    Logan Simpson is following the streamlining guidelines contained in the Secretary of the Interior’s Executive Order 3355 as we develop the EA.

  • BLM Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) Strategy

    Logan Simpson recently conducted field data collection to assist the BLM Safford Field Office with a pilot project implementing the BLM’s AIM Strategy in the Southeast Arizona Focal Area. The inventory work was conducted at 50 monitoring plots. Terrestrial data was captured electronically using the Database for Inventory, Monitoring and Assessment and provided to BLM to incorporate into its nationwide database. To assure collection of the highest-quality data, Logan Simpson’s team of biologists, botanists, soil scientists, and rangeland resource specialists attended an official week-long AIM training provided by BLM. Prior to conducting field work, we printed an aerial photo of each plot to use as the plot map. To ensure the best chance of identifying unknown plants, we instituted a standard collection procedure to allow identification later. We took photos, including an object to show scale. We also collected a portion of the plant, with flowers and/or fruit when available, and mounted the specimen in our field herbarium notebook with a detailed label.

  • Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area Management Plan Revision and EA

    Logan Simpson worked with the BLM (NEPA lead); Colorado Parks and Wildlife (management plan lead); and the US Forest Service (land manager) to update to the management plan and EA for the 150 miles Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA).  The AHRA is one of the nation’s most popular whitewater boating rivers and receives the highest level of commercial boating of any river in the nation. With 700,000 visitors annually, the AHRA is also popular for camping, wildlife watching, gold panning, and numerous other river-related recreation activities including its Gold Medal Trout Fishery. The challenge for the AHRA is to satisfy seemingly infinite recreational demands while at the same time maintaining both the environmental quality and the quality of visitor experiences along the river. The issue-driven management plan and EA addresses a wide array of topics, with a focus on carrying capacity, potential user conflicts, special activity and special use permitting, travel management updates for key areas, the need for new or improved facilities, and improved access and resource conservation. Logan Simpson led three rounds of public outreach to help guide the AHRA partnership in four different cities across the Front Range and in the project vicinity.

  • BLM Johnson Hill Special Recreation Area Travel Management Inventory

    Logan Simpson completed 220 miles (7,647 acres) of route inventory within the BLM’s Socorro Field Office in New Mexico. The inventoried area included the Johnson Hill (Gordy’s Hill) Special Recreation Management Area and the Quebradas Backcountry Byway. Logan Simpson used the BLM’s GTLF standard in conjunction with a customized data dictionary. The inventory team captured over 1,000 geotagged photos to document route conditions and the location of infrastructure such as stock tanks, cattle grates, campsites, signs, gates, and other features in a landscape that contained very variable terrain that includes deep canyons, sand washes, high sandstone and limestone bluffs, terraces, and escarpments. The Johnson Hill Special Recreation Area is a popular OHV destination with challenging features and our inventory team was able to accomplish the work efficiently and safely. The BLM will use the GIS data and photos collected during the inventory as part of travel management planning.

  • BLM Lander Field Office Travel Management Inventory

    Logan Simpson conducted a route inventory of 5,259 miles for the Lander Field Office within the Agate Flats, Antelope Hills and Crooks Mountain Travel Management Areas in Wyoming. The project, which consists of 1,449,305 acres, was awarded under Logan Simpson’s BLM Travel Management BPA. The team used the BLM’s GTLF standard in conjunction with a customized data dictionary that included unique attributes requested by the field office, such as dominant vegetation type, noxious weed presence and the potential for off-track travel. The inventory team captured thousands of geotagged photos and photo points with over 70 domain choices for features such as route drainage, barrier or hazard, facility, resource, recreation use, and more to document route conditions and the location of infrastructure and other features of interest. The vast inventory area (roughly equivalent to the size of the state of Delaware) for this project was very remote and contained five wilderness study areas. To improve efficiency and minimize commute time our inventory team camped on site and moved our base camp as progress was made. This project received exceptional ratings from the agency in quality, schedule, cost control, management, and regulatory compliance.

  • BLM Salmon and Challis Field Offices Visual Resource Inventories

    Logan Simpson is preparing two visual resource inventories (VRIs) encompassing approximately 5.9 million acres within the BLM’s Challis and Salmon field offices in Idaho. The project areas are nestled between the Bitterroot Mountains and the Continental Divide to the east and the Salmon River Mountain Range to the west. These BLM-managed lands hold some of the most ruggedly beautiful landscapes and notable natural and cultural resources in the state of Idaho.

     

    The VRIs document the scenic quality and visual sensitivity of the area’s outstanding visual, geological, historic, and prehistoric resources including the Jim McClure-Jerry Peak Wilderness Area, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and Salmon River Special Recreation Management Areas, the Herd and Trail Creeks Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, and the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. In addition to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, the project area also contains notable linear scenic platforms such as the Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway, Lewis and Clark Backcountry Byway, and the Sacajawea Historic Byway. The history-filled Sacajawea Historic Byway offers compelling views as well as a wealth of mining and Native American history.

     

    The project area also contains a portion of the longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States—the Salmon River, which provides the public with exceptional recreation opportunities including whitewater kayaking, canoeing, rafting, and fishing. Tourism and recreation are major economic engines for the area’s small rural communities who place great significance on protecting historic vistas and special use areas.