Fiscal Year 2018 End-of-Year Recreation Management Information System Data Call

IM 2018-104

Instruction Memorandum

Expires:09/30/2021

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
http://www.blm.gov

August 28, 2018

In Reply Refer To:
8300 (250/410) P

EMS TRANSMISSION 08/31/2018
Instruction Memorandum No. 2018-104
Expires: 09/30/2021

To: All Field Office Officials
Attn: State Recreation Program Leads, State National Conservation Leads and Outdoor Recreation Planners

From: Assistant Director, Resources and Planning

Subject: Fiscal Year 2018 End-of-Year Recreation Management Information System Data Call DD: 09/14/2018; 09/28/2018

Program Area: Recreation and Visitor Services and National Conservation Lands.

Purpose: This Instruction Memorandum (IM) informs state directors and field managers about the fiscal year (FY) 2018 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 are entered into the RMIS. Additionally, all leads or their designees must submit a confirmation memorandum to the Division of Recreation and Visitor Services (WO-250) certifying that the review is complete. Each of the above requirements has a specific deadline.

Administrative or Mission Related: Administrative.

Policy/Action: All field, district, and state offices are requested to input required RMIS data for the period October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018. An estimate of visitation from September 14 to 30, 2018, may be necessary in order to complete the FY data. All offices should enter their data into RMIS through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Application Security System (BASS), a link can be found at the BLM RMIS INFO intranet site at: http://rmishelp.blm.gov/

The data call this year focuses on:

Input visits to public lands and waters, including National Landscape Conservation System lands plus special recreation permits for both commercial and non-commercial private use;
Review and edit of all current Recreation Information Database RIDB (RIDB) entries, deletion of unnecessary entries, and associating all entries with a RMIS location (e.g. office, area, road, river, trail, RMA or site);
Review, edit and update the Travel and Transportation Management module for each office;
Update any changes to shooting and hunting closure data in the Shooting/Hunting module;
Update recreation sites as to current fee status;
Input the number of Recreation Use Permits issued; and
Update partnership and agreement details.

Reporting guidance is detailed at the RMIS User Information Website (add link).

Once offices complete their work, State Recreation Program leads and State National Landscape Conservation System leads must review their respective field office’s data for completeness and accuracy. When the review is complete, a confirmation message 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. The RMIS Team listed at the RMIS INFO site will be available the week of September 17-21, 2018 to help with the data quality review.

Timeframe: State and FO data are to be entered into RMIS by September 14, 2018. The deadline for the State Recreation Program lead to review their state and field office data, and send their confirmation memorandum is September 28, 2018. The system will be closed to any FY 2018 data adjustments at midnight on September 30, 2018.

Budget Impact: This planned workload was included as part of the FY 2018 base Recreation (L1220) budget. Use Program Element MA (Evaluate Recreation Areas) when reporting labor for both collecting and entering RMIS data.

Background: The RMIS is the BLM official repository for data relating to the recreational and social use on public lands and waters, including National Conservation Lands. It is an internal system accessible only by BLM personnel. Data within the system includes, but is not limited to, the number of recreation visits, recreation visitor days, type of activities, permits issued, recreation site details, OHV designation acreage, and partnership agreement details.

The RMIS is accessed through BASS. This security system requires each user to complete a 1260-12 software application permission form (available at: http://rmishelp.blm.gov/). Completed forms can be faxed or scanned/emailed to the National Operation Center and your account will be created in both BASS and RMIS. Please note that authorization of guest- or read-only status still requires completion of a 1260-12 form.

National Conservation Lands data review and cleanup are the priorities for this year. If your office, RMA, site, river, road, trail, or area designation is within or contains National Conservation Lands, data must be reviewed for completeness and accuracy.

Instructions for this module have been posted at http://rmishelp.blm.gov/.

Updating of the RMIS/RIDB module, as well as the Recreational Shooting and Hunting module, remain emphasis areas in RMIS and offices should also check this data for accuracy.

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 Login to BASS, an electronic copy of the 1260-12 form, RMIS 4.0 User Guide, eight RMIS training modules on the NTC Knowledge Resource Center, and reference documents such as: “Techniques and Equipment for Gathering Visitor Use Data on Recreation Sites.”

Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: None.

Coordination: Continued coordination and communication will be provided to all RMIS end users via email.

Contact: An updated RMIS Team Contact List for use by the State Recreation Program Leads and field office users is available at http://rmishelp.blm.gov/ . Users in each state are directed to a primary RMIS contact for assistance in completing this EOY data call. If your 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 David Baker, Outdoor Recreation Planner (OC570) by telephone at 303-236-6313 or by email at djbaker@blm.gov.

Signed by:                                                                   Authenticated by:
Kristin Bail                                                                  Robert M. Williams
Assistant Director                                                       Division of IT Policy and Planning,WO870
Resources and Planning