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February/March 2007
Volume I; Issue 1
Special Report:
Trans Texas Corridor

BLM Disorganization Strand Kim Family
By Fred Kelly Grant

The “expertise” of the BLM is often relied on by Federal District Judge B Lynn Winmill when it allows him to rule against ranchers and local economic interests. Many other judges are quick to “defer” to the expertise of this federal land management agency. But, many of us who have engaged the BLM for a decade or more have believed that it is often an agency with employees running amok, where often the supervised become the supervisors of their own actions, i.e., they do as they please regardless of orders.

Peter Sleeth, noted investigative reporter of the Oregonian, on December 14, 2007, related a story which corroborates that belief. We all have heard of the unfortunate death of James Kim, as he tried to walk for help for his snow-bound wife and two young daughters. They had become stuck in snow on a logging spur road as they attempted to reach the Oregon Coast for Thanksgiving. They were traveling a mapped backcountry road when they mistakenly turned into a maze of logging spurs. A gate designed to prevent people from making this mistake had been left open. For nearly a month, BLM officials had claimed that they had the gate locked, but vandals broke open the lock and left the gate open.

Sleeth now reports that a spokesman for the BLM has admitted that BLM personnel never locked the gate in the first place. Employees were instructed to lock the gate on November 1, an action which would have spared the young husband and father. But, when arriving at the gate, the BLM folks couldn’t confirm that no one would be trapped by locking the gate, so they left it unlocked — thus allowing the future tragedy. The BLM spokesman admitted that the gate was “there specifically to prevent people from wandering onto that road. It is a common occurrence as the road splits in a confusing manner.” The Kim family passed right through the open gate and got stuck in the snow.

The government spokesman said the agency doesn’t know why the employees never returned to lock the gate, but admitted that it might well be that they simply forgot. But, the gate was locked on December 6, and, according to the BLM spokesman, will remain locked for the winter. Unless some employee, in the exercise of the oft deferred to “expertise,” decides to unlock it and then forgets to lock it back.

“Expertise” or “run amok disorganization?” Maybe the BLM’s internal investigation now under way will tell us — but don’t wait dinner for the answer.