Empire Landing Campground

Please BLM, Keep the "Public" in Public Land!

What's to become of our public land if the best parcels are leased to private enterprise for profit? I'd like to pass on this notice that I just received via my Escapees RV Club Newsletter.This is just one more tip breaking off the iceberg. If you care, please act and pass this on to all the RVers you know who appreciate America's public lands.

Escapees News Bulletin

from James Koca, Escapees RV Advocate Director

The Escapees family of RVers, as well as other travelers, has enjoyed the benefits of staying on Bureau of Land Management land free or at a low cost all across the United States. The BLM mission statement is "It is the mission of the Bureau of Land Management to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations."

Escapees has been notified by concerned members that BLM is looking at transferring the Empire Landing Campground on the Parker Strip, which is north of Parker, Arizona, on the California side, to a private concessionaire. This would cause the campground to no longer be available for low-cost camping along the Colorado River. We feel that this goes against the mission of the Bureau of Land Management as well as the Parker Strip Recreational Area Management Plan.

If the campground goes under the concessionaire, 20 tent sites would be eliminated, and the cost to stay at the campground would increase. We have filed a letter of protest to request that the proposed plan be denied in order to keep the Empire Landing Campground under BLM control. This will allow the campground to provide a camping facility for a variety of camping styles at an economic fee.

The information we obtained is rather long and complicated, but if you are interested in learning more, you can go to the BLM NEPA page at: https://www.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/projectSummary.do?methodName=renderDefaultProjectSummary&projectId=36700. The NEPA document number is: #DOI-BLM-AZ-C030-2013-0021-EA. The comment period ends on April 21, 2014. If you would like to express your own opinion, you may write to:

Bureau of Land Management Lake Havasu Field Office 2610 Sweetwater Avenue Lake Havasu City, Arizona 86406

Additional Reading:

At Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, you'll find many examples of similar situations where public land is becoming less and less accessible to the general public.

Escapees (SKPs) is, in my opinion, one of the few national RV clubs with a real commitment to boondocking. I thank them for bringing our attention to what's about to happen at Empire Landing Campground.