Date: October 19, 2004

CONTACT: Jamie Thompson, Public Affairs Officer, (775) 623-1500

LOCAL PLANNING GROUP RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD

The Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Kathleen Clarke, will be in Reno on Monday, October 25 at 8 a.m. to honor individuals who participated in planning for the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area (NCA).

Known as the Director's Four Cs Award, it recognizes 74 members of the public and BLM employees whose actions exemplify in some extraordinary fashion the Department’s Four Cs philosophy of "consultation, cooperation and communication, in the service of conservation." The people selected for this award participated in the three-year collaborative planning effort that developed the Resource Management Plan for the NCA located 100 miles northeast of Reno.

This effort officially ended on July 15 when the Record of Decision was signed by the BLM State Directors of California and Nevada. Among those being honored are 40 members of the public and 34 BLM employees from two field offices and two state offices.

The presentation of the cut-glass award will be made at the BLM Nevada State Office, at 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, to Terry Reed, field manager of the BLM’s Winnemucca District; Owen Billingsley, field manager of BLM's Surprise Office in Cedarville, California, and Dave Cooper, manager of the NCA. All 74 recipients will receive a certificate signed by the Director thanking them for their extraordinary efforts.

"This is a prestigious award and we are honored to receive it," said Reed. "We appreciate Director Clarke coming to Nevada to make this presentation and are proud to accept the award on behalf of all those who worked so hard on this plan over the past three years. Without their commitment and hard work we could never have created the broad-based resource management plan we have for this very special area. Their individual perspectives were important, but their consensus was powerful.”

The act that created the NCA required that the Resource Management Plan be completed within three years of enactment. Over that time, BLM conducted 74 public meetings in two states and received thousands of comments from the public, all of which were considered during the planning process. The Resource Management Plan can be viewed on-line at http://www.nv.blm.gov/Winnemucca/ and clicking on "Black Rock / High Rock Resource Management Plan". The posted plan is searchable and downloadable.

- BLM -