Alabama Hills Scenic Area
BISHOP, California. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public input for the future management of the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine in Inyo County. Today’s release of an environmental assessment lays out three proposed alternatives and begins a 30-day public review period that ends on August 7, 2020.
Set between the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada and the Owens Valley, the Alabama Hills are a unique formation of rounded rocks and eroded hills that encompass more than 29,000 acres of public land that is well known for its mix of scenic, cultural, geological, educational, biological, historical, recreational, cinematographic, and scientific values.
In March 2019, President Trump signed Public Law 116-9 (P.L. 116-9), also known as the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which designated 18,745 acres within the Alabama Hills as a National Scenic Area. The BLM is currently preparing a management plan for the Scenic Area and adjacent public lands in the Alabama Hills Special Recreation Management Area.
Implementing P.L. 116-9 is a top priority for the Department of the Interior as we work to strike a proper balance for land and resource management, increase access for hunting, fishing, and recreation, and create economic prosperity, while protecting and preserving America’s treasures.
“We welcome continued public engagement in our effort to develop a comprehensive plan for management of the area,” says Bishop Field Manager Steve Nelson. “We also look forward to completing the plan and working with the Alabama Hills Stewardship Group, the local tribe, and the Lone Pine community to implement management strategies that will ensure the long-term protection, conservation, public access, and responsible use of this magnificent landscape.”
To facilitate public review and encourage public participation in the Alabama Hills planning effort, the BLM will host two virtual meetings in late July. Public meeting materials will be available on the project website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/1502669/570. Virtual meetings will be conducted on the following dates and times:
• Wednesday, July 22, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.
• Thursday, July 23, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
To register for one of the virtual meetings, go to the project website. Once registered, you will receive an email with instructions on how to join the meeting. These instructions will also include an option to call into the meeting using a traditional phone line.
Written comments on the proposed alternatives in the environmental assessment can be submitted via email to: [email protected]; by fax: 760-872-5055; or by mail to: BLM Bishop Field Office, Attn: Alabama Hills Management Plan, 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 100, Bishop, CA 93514.
Before including addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or other personal identifying information in a comment, commenters should be aware that the entire comment, including personal identifying information, could be made publicly available at any time. While the public may ask the BLM to withhold personal identifying information from public review, the BLM cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so.
For specific questions, please call Project Manager Monica Buhler at 760-872-5000.
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Good Bye
What you say there is so true !
When other areas were closed down around here and in SoCal,many people showed their true colors when they came to the Alabama Hills.
For a few weeks,it was like an unkept city….trash everywhere,parking and camping off the designated roads,tons of people doing as they pleased
And when it became obvious it was being over-used and abused and the area got shut down,people refusing to leave,thinking they could come and go and do as they want….and did for a while.
Things do have to change there,starting with some type of enforcement with the rules that were already in place before and with the new designation as a National Scenic Area.
If they don’t we have no further than about a 70 mile drive south of Lone Pine on HWY 395 to the Jawbone Canyon area to see what happens to a once beautiful area when there’s total disregard for the land and only thinking of tourist money..total destruction of the land and any type of wildlife.
People will continue to use the land as they see fit. BLM doesnt enforce any rules especially if you are a squatter destroying the countryside, leaving human waste, trash, needles, and many more suprises.
Wow, that is one mind numbing environmental report. 114 pages of 21st century bureaucracy. The detail is amazing. The number of things to be considered for change, no change, some change seems endless. In the end I’m hoping they keep recreational opportunities open for the many visitors who go there. It’s good for the people and good for the local economy. After all no matter what you call it, it’s still public land.
Hoping to visit there. Can’t wait to see it.
“Wow, that is one mind numbing environmental report. 114 pages of 21st century bureaucracy. ”
So you would prefer not to inventory the area so we know what there is to protect, etc.? Better to just forge ahead in ignorance? Geez.
No better to enforce laws already on the books. No sense in making more if they wont be enforced.
Start by not voting for politicians who de-fund federal institutions. The last time I was working for them, the BLM had two law-enforcement rangers for the entire region, from Toaz to Ridgecrest. Then one of them quit, and was not replaced. So we have to rely on the inherent decency of the average clown who travels up to visit (or lives here full-time): how is that working out?