FY 2007 End-of-Year Recreation Management Information System Data Call DD: 09/14/2007; 09/28/2007

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240 http://www.blm.gov May 14, 2007 In Reply Refer To: 8300 (250) P Ref. IM No. 2006-201 EMS TRANSMISSION 05/22/2007 Instruction Memorandum No. 2007-123 Expires: 09/30/2008 To: All Field Officials Attn: State Recreation Program Leads, Outdoor Recreation Planners From: Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning Subject: FY 2007 End-of-Year Recreation Management Information System Data Call DD: 09/14/2007; 09/28/2007 Program Area: Recreation and Visitor Services and National Landscape Conservation System. Purpose: This Instruction Memorandum (IM) informs State Directors and Field Managers about the FY 2007 End-of-Year (EOY) Data Call for the Recreation Management Information System (RMIS) and requests all Field Offices to complete the data call. This IM also requests State Recreation Program leads or their designee to complete a review of their data after all State and Field Office data have been entered into the RMIS, and submit a confirmation memorandum to the Division of Recreation and Visitor Services (WO-250) certifying the review has been completed. Each of these requirements has a specific deadline. Policy/Action: All Field, District and State Offices are requested to update required RMIS data for the period October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007. An estimate of visitation from September 15 - 30, 2007 may be necessary in order to complete the fiscal year data. These offices should enter their data into RMIS through the BLM intranet site at: http://rmishelp.blm.gov/. This year's data call focuses on visits to public lands and waters, special recreation permits (SRPs) for both commercial and non-commercial private use, off-highway vehicle (OHV) designation acreage updates, update of current Activity Level and/or Travel Management Plans, review and update of formulas, and partnerships/agreements. Guidance to complete the reporting of visits to public lands and waters is detailed at the RMIS User Information Website described in the Background section below. The Collection and Billing System (CBS) revenue and permit counts for recreation use permits must be reviewed for accuracy. The permit count from CBS will not be used in FY 2007 as the official permit count in the Public Lands Statistics Report. As a result, Field Offices must enter these permit counts into the RMIS. Once Field Offices have completed their work, State Recreation Program Leads must review their respective Field Offices' data for completeness and accuracy. The RMIS ad-hoc group listed on attachment 1 will be available the week of September 17, 2007 to help with this review. When the review is complete, a confirmation memorandum should be sent to the Recreation and Visitor Services Division Chief (WO-250). This memorandum should identify both unresolved issues that need attention and any necessary justification of the data. Time Frame: State and Field Office data are to be entered into the RMIS by September 14, 2007. The deadline for the State Recreation Program Lead review of their State and Field Office data and confirmation memorandum is September 28, 2007. The system will be closed at midnight on September 30th. The schedule for this data call gives State Recreation Program Leads two weeks to review their respective EOY data, and assist Field Offices with correcting errors and identifying and entering missing data. The RMIS ad-hoc group will be conducting similar reviews and will be available to assist both State and Field Offices with addressing problems encountered in understanding the RMIS concepts, updating formulas, entering data, and comprehending the functionality of the system. Budget Impact: This planned workload was included as part of the FY 2007 base Recreation (1220) budget. Use Program Element MA (Evaluate Recreation Areas) when reporting labor for both collecting and entering RMIS data. Background: The RMIS is the BLM's official repository for data relating to the recreational and social use on public lands and waters. It is an internal system accessible only by BLM personnel. Data within the system include, but are not limited to: recreation visits, visitor days, type of activities, permits issued, recreation site details, off-highway vehicle designation acreage, and partnership agreement details. In FY 2006 the RMIS program was moved to a shared web environment and the software converted. The RMIS now shares both software and hardware cost with other database applications and the operation and maintenance functions are now provided by National Information Resource Management Center. The FY 2007 EOY data call will be the second complete data entry in the shared web environment. The RMIS User Information Website serves as a helpful resource for RMIS users and guests and can be reached at http://rmishelp.blm.gov/. This website provides links to the RMIS 4.0 User Guide, Instruction Memorandum No. 2003-245 detailing the Guidelines for Reporting Recreation Visitation, and reference documents such as Techniques and Equipment for Gathering Visitor Use Data on Recreation Sites. Directives Sections Affected: None. Coordination: Continued coordination and communication will be provided to all RMIS end users via e-mail. Contact: Attached is an updated RMIS Team Contact List for use by the State Recreation Program Leads and Field Office users. Users in each State are directed to a primary RMIS contact for assistance in completing this EOY data call. There are several changes to this year's contact list, including new contacts for Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah. When either no primary contact is listed or when the primary RMIS contact is unavailable, anyone on the list may be contacted. If you have questions or need additional information regarding this data call, please contact Tina McDonald, RMIS Project Manager, at (303) 239-3716 or Andy Tenney at (202) 452-7735. Signed by: Authenticated by: Robert T. Ratcliffe Robert M. Williams Acting, Deputy Assistant Director Division of IRM Governance,WO-560 Renewable Resources and Planning 1 Attachment 1- RMIS Team Contact Listing (1 p)