Arizona Public Lands Information Center

[expeditionswest]

I thought some of this information would be helpful for the group.

The Arizona Public Lands Information Center (PLIC) is a great resource for anyone wanting to explore AZ. They offer one stop shopping for State Land and Range permits, and have a good selection of maps and books on AZ.

222 N. Central Ave. Suite 101
Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 417-9300

Here is a cool line card of AZ outdoor resources. The file is big but hard to read at lower resolution

Scott Brady
mailto:guide@expeditionswest.com (guide@expeditionswest.com)
http://www.expeditionswest.com

[MrS]

IMO those people are very nice, want to help, but have no knowledge about the books, and maps they have. Didn't know much about the lands they cover, or what areas they cover, and I got a different answer every time I called. I found some of the info. was totally wrong now that I been there. Since the permit is only $20 (for a group in one vehicle) and easy to get, regardless of what they tell you on the phone, everyone going to Az should get one.

I did get a few really good maps and books from them and would love to go by their office.

Other than that They are very helpful and a good place to start.


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KF6YSB

[expeditionswest]

Yep, they arent very knowledgable about the areas, and have college interns working for them. But it is nice to have one place to go for permits and maps. They can also give you updates on closings, which was actually very depressing the last time I went there. She gave me a stack of 11 recent trail closings. :(

Scott Brady
mailto:guide@expeditionswest.com (guide@expeditionswest.com)
http://www.expeditionswest.com

[Cecile]

From my experience stopping in California visitor centers, forest service and blm ranger stations, the person behind the counter is not very knowledgable, and it can be quite aggravating at times. When we are killing time between tours in Mammoth, Roger and I have been known to hang out at the ranger station up there, and answer questions to visitors that the people behind the counter are totally clueless about. If you are lucky, there will be one ranger that might know something, but that's unusual. These places are wonderful resources for books and maps, though. If I can ever get Roger out of Mojave, the Southern & Eastern Sierras, and Death Valley, and into Arizona, I'll know where to go now, thanks Scott!

On a side note, Roger and I have tried to do our part to educate the rangers in Owens Valley and Mammoth on the areas they serve. We put together a power point presentation of the area, telling all the popular (not the secret one's that need protected )places to go, a bit of history, geology, etc. We showed it to the BLM and the USFS at a lunch meeting, and gave them a copy for their own use. Often times these people are so busy doing office work they don't have time to go out and visit the areas they are covering, and the college interns can be from areas halfway across the United States.

Steve, you've been with us on our Land of Volcanoes tour and done the Mono Lake canoe tour. In recent years, the committe realizes that our groups are the perfect opportunity for their interns to learn more about the surrounding area than just Mono Lake itself. It just turns out that when we book our canoe tour with them, we are the first one of the year. Roger and I are put in a canoe with newbie guides, and while we let them do their normal spiel about the lake, we talk about everything else. Great opportunity for them to learn something that they should know, but might not have the chance to otherwise, and timing is great since it's the beginning of their season. They can go through the rest of the canoe season actually knowing how to talk about everything! At the very least, we've given them a taaste, they can hopefully find time to research and go out and explore on their own after that.

Our only regret is that we don't have time to work more with these places and help educate so visitors won't be frustrated when they try to get information. Too bad the various agencies don't work more to develope their own programs to educate the person behind the counter. Of course that would take time and money, which is something they are short obviously short of to begin with.

What a sad commentary, Scott, they could tell you about closings, but didn't have a clue about anything else!


Cecile
Well behaved women rarely make history-
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Real women shift into 4WD!

[MrS]

I wasn't think about the staff knowing the history, geology, or other items like that. I was thinking about things like How-to get a permit, where it is needed, what map covers an area. Over the years I have made many calls to other states out west,and they kinda knew the basic how to's Some where not to friendly, which the Az people where.

The office Scott listed sounds like a great place to visit, for us who NEED maps and books.

I also like to add the old fort at Yuma has a bunch of fun maps, book, etc. even better than the prison gift shop.

KF6YSB

[Cecile]

Same thing, though, Steve, these people don't know any of it half the time. The guys at Mono Lake had vaguely heard of Bodie, and new it was up there somewhere, but didn't know where. that's dumb they should be able to tell you exactly where it is and how to get there. And I'll bet they didn't know about permits either; probably don't have a clue that the canoes are run by special use permits, just like our tours are.

Sometimes I think they play dumb, too. just to feel you out and see if you are worthy of knowing the information. Last year as we drove up to Mammoth we could see smoke from a fire that looked like it was right along the route we would be taking our tour on the next day. We stopped in to get information and the ranger just looked at us like it was none of our business, her attitude was 'Yep, there's a fire out there, so what?' We explained who we were and why we needed to know and she finally starting looking at the maps to show us exactly where the fire was burning. I believe it was a lightening fire that they decided to let burn as a controlled burn. My questiion is, though, if it was just a bunch of us out there exploring the area on our own, don't we deserve to have the information as well? By her telling us, regardless of who we were, she might have avoided having to send someone out to rescue us for getting caught in a fire area by accident. It wasn't like we were asking 'where are the secret petroglyphs?'


Cecile
Well behaved women rarely make history-
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Real women shift into 4WD!