The next face-to-face TRT Meeting is scheduled for Friday January 23, 2004 9:00 AM at the El Centro BLM office. This meeting will be open to the public.

I will post more info and the agenda as it becomes available.

Please let me know if there is anything you would like discussed at the meeting. You can send your comments via e-mail to TRTemail@aol.com and it will be distributed to all TRT members.

Thanks,
Glenn

Hi All, We had a good meeting today. I won't even start a run down tonight as I am still trying to digest it myself. A few quick points though:

We have data through December 31 now. Documents will soon be available on the BLM and or TRT web site.

The visitatation numbers on the documents from the BLM is Gross counts. That is they DO NOT take into account any double, triple, quadruple drives over the traffic counters. There was major discussion to on how to adjust for these "over counts" that everyone agrees is occurring. Of course untilwe get a better understanding of gross counts vs actual this will impact the compliance calculations. You can bet there will be more to come on this.

The ISDRA TRT Dune Users Survey was approved by the TRT and BLM today. It will be live on the TRT web site soon. Watch this forum for the announcement. Print copies of the survey will follow. Still has some details to work out on that.

Breif rundown on TRT meeting.

Our meeting was called to order at 9:00AM with all TRT members present.

We had a good meeting today. We have data through December 31 now. Documents will soon be available on the BLM and or TRT web site.

The visitatation numbers on the documents from the BLM included gross counts with adjustments for in and out travel. . There was major discussion to on how to adjust for these "over counts" that everyone agrees is occurring. Unfortunately, the only way to figure "exact" visitation is by having gates but to avoid gates, several adjustment figures were used to help determine the exact number of visitors. Actually, the adjustments make some sense.

Using the RAMP as a model, eventhough it's not been approved, the BLM determined an annual budget. These figures include manpower, pad refurbishment, pad building, trash, toilet maintenance, monitoring, etc etc.

This figure is approx. 6.5 million. To help with the shortfall of money, the BLM was able to remove some of the RAMP items and reduce the budget to 4.3 million. This still leaves a shortfall of over 2 million dollars. Federal appropriations of only 200 thousand have been received and possibly more on the way but don't hold your breath.

For many years, the BLM has received approx. 1.2 to 1.5 million from the Green Sticker fund to augment Operation and Maintenance. Congress was geared up for the State appropriations and has not supplemented the BLM for the loss. (more information to come)

Ed Waldheim was present and commented on the grant process and vehemently defended his actions at the Commission hearings.

The one thing that Ed did mention is that based on a 10 year old gas tax study, (a new one is on the way) unregistered OHV's cause us MUCH harm in that a formula is used and for every unregistered OHV, the Commission must spend money on Restoration and enforcement.

The bottom line here is that we need to push for full compliance in the area of registration. The less unregistered OHV's, the more money available for grants. Also, the current "green" majority of the Commission feels that once an area has been restored, it should be closed. This was disputed by members of the TRT and hopefully, Ed will be successful in getting a legal opinion in our favor.

Roy Denner had in his possession letters from Congressmen Filner and Duncan urging Congress to appropriate money for the BLM to use at Glamis. ORBA and the ASA are travelling to Washington DC next week to knock on a few doors to help with the funding issue.

Also, the US Dept of Interior has come out with a flyer naming the ISDRA as one of twelve sites for Americans to see and enjoy, using the Govt's own document they will try hard to get appropriated funding.

More to follow.

The ISDRA TRT Dune Users Survey, with amendments, was approved by the TRT and BLM today. It will be live on the TRT web site soon. Watch this forum for the announcement. Printed copies of the survey will follow.