National Public Lands Day Volunteers Improve Area’s Public Lands

Contact: Sherry Foot (801) 539-4195

Salt Lake City, Utah—October 10, 2008—Eleven volunteer projects were hosted in Utah by the Bureau of Land Management on September 27.  The projects celebrated National Public Lands Day (NPLD), a nationwide volunteer effort to protect America’s natural resources.

Volunteer projects occurred in the following locations around the state:

1. Kanab Urban Interface Trails (Kanab)
2. Fisher Towers Trail (Moab)
3. Kens Lake Recreation Area (Moab)
4. Moab Area Motorized Trail (Moab)
5. Westwater Canyon (Moab)
6. Lake Mountains (Salt Lake)
7. Paiute and Great Western Trail (Richfield) - *event took place on Sept. 18
8. Three Peaks Recreation Area (Cedar City)
9. Dance Hall Rock/Hole-in-the-Rock (Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument) - *event took place on Sept. 19
10. Washington Dam Road (St. George)
11. Cedar Mesa/Kane Gulch Visitor Center Area (Monticello)

This year’s activities focused on trail, route and boundary signing, camp and trail improvement/maintenance, constructing fences, picnic area and restoration, painting and replacement of picnic tables, placing barriers near streams to protect damaged areas, removal of invasive plants and tamarisk trees, trash cleanup, and most importantly educational workshops.

“National Public Lands Day provides Americans a chance to roll up their sleeves and give something back to the community,” said Bureau of Land Management’s director, Selma Sierra, “and getting people out onto these sites gives them an opportunity to appreciate their public land.”

The Bureau of Land Management sponsored more than 100 NPLD sites on public lands around the nation.  Last year, 110,000 volunteers, community partners, numerous federal, state and local agencies contributed over $12 million in labor and improvements to America’s public places.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), one of several federal agencies sponsoring events, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior.  It manages more land – 262 million surface acres – than any other Federal agency.  The BLM accomplishes this by managing for resources such as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural and other resources on public lands.

The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), chartered by Congress in 1990, focuses on environmental learning as a solution to critical challenges in natural resources management, education, health care and business.  In its mission to support environmental education, NEEF initiates programs and public/private partnerships that will result in an environmentally knowledgeable public, environmentally competent professionals and environmentally capable leaders and policy makers.  For more information, including a list of National Public Lands Day sites, activities, and contacts, visit http://www.publiclandsday.org.