The Department of the Interior has extended Public Land Order No. 7384, which continues to protect for an additional 20 years the Bureau of Reclamation’s Lake Pleasant Regional Park (LPRP) expansion area, administered by the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department.
The park provides recreation access around the lake for activities such as fishing, hiking, and camping.
Under the extension, the land will remain withdrawn from settlement, sale, location or entry under the general land laws, including the United States mining laws, but not from leasing under the mineral leasing laws.
“Lake Pleasant provides drinking water, flood control, and recreation opportunities to the Phoenix metropolitan area. The extension of this Public Land Order is essential to provide continued access to the recreation opportunities of the lake in one of the fastest growing counties in the nation,” said Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Joe Balash.
The public lands encumbered by the lake and original dam site were withdrawn indefinitely under a public land order issued in 1968. In 1999, an additional 1,988.27-acre expansion area around the lake was withdrawn for 20 years. This land is currently being used as the regional park.
This extension facilitates recreation access to the LPRP for the more than one million people who visit the park annually. The extension also protects the area’s capital investments, water-oriented developments, and dispersed recreation.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The agency’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. Diverse activities authorized on these lands generated $96 billion in sales of goods and services throughout the American economy in fiscal year 2017—more than any other agency in the Department of the Interior. These activities supported more than 468,000 jobs.
