To the greatest extent possible, all new construction and modifications for recreation facilities, outdoor developed areas, and any related programs and activities will be accessible to people with disabilities in accordance with the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, with later amendments. Guidance, requirements, and standards applicable to conform to the above legislation may be found in the following sources:
Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards.
Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines.
ADA-ABA Accessibility Guidelines (use whichever guidance is most stringent).
Proposed Outdoor Developed Areas Guidelines-U.S. Access Board found at www.access-board.gov and 43 CFR Part 17, Subpart E found at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html.
Special Recreation Permits (SRP s) are authorizations allowing specific recreation uses of public lands and related waters. SRP s are issued to manage visitor use and protect natural and cultural resources while avoiding user conflicts. The legal authorities are the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, 43 USC 1701 et seq., and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, as amended, 16 USC 460l–6a. BLM Handbook H-2930-1 Recreation Permit Administration application process contains applicable laws, policy, rules and regulations and conformance with resource planning decisions. The decision to authorize a proposed use depends on potential resource impacts, conflicts with other users, any public health and safety issues, past or present performance of the applicant with the BLM or other agencies, and BLM receiving a complete SRP application in a timely manner to process and administer the permit.
Types of Permits
Commercial Use: recreational use of the public lands and related waters for business or financial gain.
Competitive Use: any organized sanctioned or structured use, event or activity on public land and related waters in which two or more participants compete and (a) participants register, enter and/or complete an application; (b) a predetermined course or area is designated; or (c) participants contest an established record such as speed or endurance.
Organized Group Activity or Event: a structured, ordered, consolidated, or scheduled event or occupation of public lands for recreational purposes not considered commercial or competitive.
Vending Use: use permitted to market, sell, or rent recreation-related goods or services including but not limited to, food, beverages, clothing, firewood, tool or equipment repair on public lands or related waters.
Some commercial and organized group uses requiring SRP s have little to no resource impacts, user conflicts, or health and safety concerns, and may require little monitoring. Examples of such uses are hunting outfitter and guide operations, motorized tours, photography tours, nature hikes, dual-sport rides, horseback rides, and organized club campouts. Special stipulations for SRP s have been developed to protect natural resources, reduce user conflicts, and minimize health and safety risks. These stipulations are included with all authorized SRP s and must be followed to keep the permit valid. Final decisions for permit issuance will be based on other valid concerns, including the following:
prior performance;
BLM’s ability to process the permit in a timely manner; and/or
other unforeseen circumstances.
The permittee must also comply with any special allocations or restrictions. Proposed SRP s are subject to environmental analysis in accordance with NEPA .
Standards for Recreation Settings referred to in this document are as follows:
Recreation Settings - Settings described in the recreation opportunity spectrum (ROS) inventory method. Descriptions of the settings follow:
Primitive Settings:
Remoteness: An area designated by a line generally three miles from all open roads, railroads, and motorized trails . Evidence of Humans: Setting is essentially an unmodified natural environment.
Evidence of humans would be unnoticed by an observer wandering through the area.
Evidence of trails is acceptable but should not exceed standard to carry expected use.
Structures are extremely rare.
Social: Usually less than six parties per day encountered on trails and less than three parties visible at campsites.
Managerial: Onsite regimentation is low with controls primarily offsite.
Semi-primitive Non-motorized Settings:
Remoteness: An area designated by a line generally 1/2 mile from any road, railroad, or trail open to public motorized use. (The guideline for applying the 1/2 mile criterion is to use 1/2 mile except where topographic or physical features closer than 1/2 miles adequately screen out the sights and sounds of humans and make access more difficult and slower. For example, if a ridge is 1/4 mile from the road, use the ridge instead of the 1/2 mile).
Any roads, railroads, or trails within the semi-primitive non-motorized areas will have the following characteristics:
Are reclaimed, or in the process of reclaiming (when reclaiming will harmonize with the natural appearing environment). Some examples are old logging roads, old railroad beds, old access routes to abandoned campsites, temporary roads, and gated roads that are used for occasional administrative access.
Evidence of Humans: Natural setting may have subtle modifications that would be noticed but not draw the attention of an observer wandering through the area.
Little or no evidence of primitive roads and the motorized use of trails and primitive roads.
Structures are rare and isolated.
Social: Usually 6-15 parties per day encountered on trails and six or fewer parties visible from campsite.
Managerial: Onsite regimentation and controls present but subtle.
Semi-Primitive Motorized Settings:
Remoteness: An area designed by a line generally 1/2 mile from open primitive roads. (The guideline for applying the 1/2 mile criterion is to consistently use 1/2 mile where topographic or physical features closer than 1/2 mile adequately screen out the sights and sounds of humans, e.g. a ridge 1/4 mile from the road.)
Contains open primitive roads that are not maintained for the use of standard passenger-type vehicles, normally OHVs and high-clearance vehicles, e.g. an old pickup with high clearance. These open roads are generally tracks, ruts, or rocky-rough surface and ungraded and not drained. The roadbeds and cuts are mostly vegetated with grass or native material unless they are too rocky for vegetation. The roads harmonize with the natural environment. Examples include old logging roads from before specified road years, old revegetated railroad beds, old access roads to abandoned home-sites, temporary logging roads that are revegetated, and low standard administrative roads (normally used for access to wildlife openings).
Evidence of Humans: Natural setting may have moderately dominant alterations but would not draw the attention of motorized observers on trails and primitive roads within the area. Any closed improved roads must be managed to revegetate and harmonize with the natural environment.
Strong evidence of primitive roads and the motorized use of trails and primitive roads.
Structures are rare and isolated.
Social: Low to moderate contact frequency.
Managerial: Onsite regimentation and controls present but subtle.
Roaded Natural Settings:
Remoteness: No criteria
Evidence of Humans: Natural setting may have modifications, which range from being easily noticed to strongly dominant to observers within the area. But from sensitive travel routes and use areas, these alterations would remain unnoticed or visually subordinate.
There is strong evidence of designed roads, highways, or both.
Structures are generally scattered, remaining visually subordinate or unnoticed to the sensitive travel route observer. Structures may include utility corridors or microwave installations.
Social: Frequency of contact is - Moderate to high on roads; Low to Moderate on trails and away from roads.
Managerial: Onsite regimentation and controls are noticeable but harmonize with the natural environment.
Rural Settings:
Remoteness: No criteria
Evidence of Humans: Natural setting is culturally modified to the point that it is dominant to the sensitive travel route observer. This setting may include pastoral, agricultural, intensively managed wildland resource landscapes, or utility corridors. Pedestrian or other slow-moving observers are constantly within view of culturally changed landscape.
There is strong evidence of designed roads, highways, or both.
Structures are readily apparent and may range from scattered to small dominant clusters, including utility corridors, farm buildings, microwave installations, and recreation sites.
Social: Frequency of contact is - Moderate to High developed sites, on roads and trails, and water surfaces; Moderate away from developed sites.
Managerial: Regimentation and controls obvious and numerous, largely in harmony with the human-made environment.
Urban Settings:
Remoteness: No criteria
Evidence of Humans: Setting is strongly structure dominated. Natural or natural appearing elements may play an important role but be visually subordinate. Pedestrian and other slow moving observers are constantly within view of artificial enclosure of spaces.
There is strong evidence of designed roads and/or highways and streets.
Structures and structure complexes are dominant.
Social: Large numbers of users onsite and in nearby areas.
Managerial: Regimentation and controls obvious and numerous
Implementation: Projects requiring environmental analysis will include an analysis to determine compatibility or consistency with the settings as described above. This analysis will be conducted consistent with current accepted practice and documented in the project record.
Allow for increased recreation use in appropriate areas, while protecting natural and cultural resources through limitations in sensitive areas. Preserving a healthy, properly functioning, and natural appearing landscape is essential.
Engage a diverse group of stakeholders in a collective effort to conserve the ecological, cultural, open space, and recreation values of the area so that it remains a place where people want to live, work, and recreate.
Initiate land acquisitions or easements to secure recreational opportunities through private land exchanges, conservation or access agreements, or purchases of rights-of-way or use permits.
Assist local community efforts to work with the Arizona State Land Department for recreation easements across State land.
Form citizen, agency, and government working groups to identify non-public (private and State) lands with high-value biological, cultural, scenic, open space, access or recreation resources that should be protected. Deliver recommendations and objectives on land, access, and open space conservation to BLM or the appropriate entity early enough so objectives can be met.
Maintain scenic and natural landscape settings while offering visitors a diverse array of recreation opportunities, including both human-powered and motorized-based activities. Emphasis would be placed on maintaining rural and natural settings, and protecting visual resources.
Enter into Recreation and Public Purposes Act leases or patents with qualified entities when appropriate to achieve resource objectives.
Avoid vehicle and recreation uses/access to areas with known listed, sensitive, threatened, and/or endangered species (plant and wildlife).
Minimize recreation use and vehicular traffic when the soils are wet or during high-fire threat conditions.
Form partnerships with government agencies, communities, and user groups to prevent and restore areas impacted by litter/dumping.
Complete comprehensive trails planning to select and develop new single-use and multi-use, hiking, equestrian, and OHV trails where appropriate to meet resource objectives.
Work with private property owners to reduce conflicts between private owners and recreational activities.
Manage the lands within SRMAs/ RMZ sfor multiple uses, including livestock grazing and OHV uses.
Evaluate roads, routes, and trails on a case-by-case basis for permitted events, and determine suitability for closure, re-routing, rehabilitation, upgrading, or authorization as an approved permitted course.
Develop brochures, maps, access guides, and information sheets and disseminate off-highway and special recreation vehicle information to the public.
Develop, produce, and distribute brochure guides for developed recreation sites.
Plan, designate and develop single- or multiple use off-highway and special recreation vehicle areas, loops, tours, routes, and management strategies through interdisciplinary plans, with community and user input.
Evaluate and plan, as needed, the installation of improvements for camping areas, off-highway vehicle use areas, toilets, scenic turnouts, interpretive sites, kiosks, non-motorizedtrails, road and portal signage, and road maintenance. Work with agency staff, user groups, and communities to identify the needs and plan for improvements.