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.

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.

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.