Bureau of Land Management officials faced a crowd of about 60 people Thursday evening in Bend at a public meeting to explain details of the draft Upper Deschutes Resource Management Plan.

An extensive document that covers a range of issues, the plan will provide a foundation for how agency officials manage about 400,000 acres in Central Oregon for the next 10 to 20 years, said Robert Towne, field manager for the Prineville District of the Bureau of Land Management.

”We are trying to give this land an identity it never had,” Towne said.

The draft plan outlines how the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will deal with recreation, grazing, timber management and wildlife. The plan covers expansive open lands in the high desert. Sage brush, junipers, slot canyons and sandy areas abound.

Within that range, a multitude of people want access to the public land.

Ranchers enjoy cheap grazing for their herds. Off-road vehicle drivers play in designated areas and roam on roads and trails. Hikers explore canyons with pictographs. Mountain bikers find winter riding east of town on Horse Ridge.

These represent only a few of the interest groups that stand to be affected by the plan.

Nearly every group had a representative present at Thursday’s meeting at Highland Elementary School in Bend. Their opinions varied.

Bend resident Dick Tobias congratulated the agency for proposing to close a roughly 25,000 acre area known as the Badlands to motorized use while opening an area farther east of Bend to year-round off-highway vehicle riding. That area, known as the south Millican area, currently closes seasonally.

”It would be hard not to support (the plan) because it creates a balance,” Tobias said.

But Ron Houser, a Bend resident and member of the Deschutes County Four Wheelers club, complained the plan attacks nonhikers and limits access.

”This is public land. It should be open and anyone should be able to enjoy it like you used to,” he said.

Copies of the draft plan are available for public review and comment at the BLM District Office in Prineville; the Deschutes National Forest supervisor’s office in Bend; Deschutes Public Library branches in La Pine, Bend, Sisters and Redmond; at the BLM state office in Portland; and at www.or.blm.gov/Prineville/Deschutes_RMP/Home.htm.

The comment period ends Jan. 15. People should send comments to Mollie Chaudet, Bureau of Land Management, Prineville District Office, 3050 NE Third St., Prineville, OR 97754.

Rachel Odell can be reached at 541-617-7811 or rodell@bendbulletin.com.