BLM Web site mostly back online

The Bureau of Land Management had good news for many Utahns last week. Instant access was available to ranchers checking for information about grazing allotments and to petroleum developers hoping to acquire new permits.

But others, such as environmentalists hoping to find out quickly about actions that could affect the federal lands, may have to wait a little longer.

Much of the agency's Internet site for Utah is back up after a hiatus of more than half a year. The Web page is www.ut.blm.gov. But sections dealing with resource management plans and the environmental bulletin boards are not quite back to full capacity.

"We're hoping to get that information up as soon as we can," said Martha Harrison, BLM spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, those sites do contain contact information for anyone wishing more details.

The national BLM Web site remains off line. But once again, for many, the Web is the place to go for information about the agency's actions in Utah, Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming, according to the BLM.

Laura Williams, spokeswoman in the agency's Salt Lake City headquarters, said the site went off line in April.

"In the Washington office, they discovered that there was a security problem," she said.

The BLM halted its Internet applications while the potential breach was investigated.

"We took ourselves down to make our site more secure," she said.

With that task now accomplished, agency officials are glad to get back on the Net.

The Utah BLM's lacking an Internet presence was "very inconvenient for a lot of people," she said, adding the Web site is used by "everybody from grazing permittees to people who want campground information."

Also, oil and gas developers use it to check details of the quarterly lease sales.

"We keep all the statistics on the parcels that are going to be on the upcoming sales," she said.

Sale results are promptly posted on the Internet, she said.

Basic resource management plan information can be tracked through the site www.ut.blm.gov.landuseplanning

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