§460nnn–51 Establishment of advisory council

Summary

Create the Steens Mountain Advisory Council to help the Secretary manage and protect the Cooperative Management and Protection Area and to support cooperative management. The council will have 12 voting members. The Secretary picks them from nominees sent by Harney County court, the Governor of Oregon, the Burns Paiute Tribe, and the Oregon State Director of the Bureau of Land Management, with one seat requiring a joint nomination by the county court and the BLM. The seats cover 10 types of interests, including a local landowner, two federal grazing permit holders, fish/recreation, a Burns Paiute Tribe member, two environmental representatives (one statewide, one local), dispersed recreation users, a recreational permit holder or commercial recreation rep, mechanized or consumptive recreation users, a wild-horse expert, and a statewide representative with no financial interest. The Secretary must check with each community of interest to make sure nominees have their community’s support. Members serve three-year terms; at first, four members serve 1 year and four serve 2 years so terms are staggered. Members can be reappointed and vacancies are filled the same way as the original appointments. The council picks its own chair and rules. Members do not get a salary but must be paid back for reasonable official expenses. The Secretary must give the council needed administrative support, name a BLM officer as a liaison, and appoint one State government liaison nominated by the Governor. The council follows the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and the procedural rules in chapter 10 of title 5.