Legacy Rehost 2000 (LR2000) Phase Out and Replacement of the Mining Claim Recordation Module and Decommissioning of the Mining Claim Payment Portal

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Grand Junction, Colorado 81506

https://www.blm.gov

January 15, 2021

EMS Transmission: 1/19/2021

In Reply Refer To: 3830/3833(850) P    

Instruction Memorandum No. 2021-013              

Expires: 9/30/2024

To:                      All State and Center Directors, and District and Field Officials

From:                 Assistant Director, Energy, Minerals and Realty Management 

Subject:             Legacy Rehost 2000 (LR2000) Phase Out and Replacement of the Mining Claim  Recordation Module and Decommissioning of the Mining Claim Payment Portal   DD: 1/25/2021 

Program Area: Mining Claims

Purpose: This Instruction Memorandum (IM) directs the phase out and replacement of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) LR2000 Mining Claim Recordation Module and the decommissioning of the BLM’s Payment Portal for Mining Claims on January 25, 2021. The BLM’s Payment Portal is an online payment website which has allowed users to make payments for products and services.  The BLM’s Payment Portal currently provides a public interface that only accepts payment of mining claim yearly maintenance fees for all states except Alaska.

This IM directs the use of the Mineral and Land Records System (MLRS) and Pay.gov for online mining claim actions beginning on January 25, 2021. MLRS is a customer-centric, geospatially-enabled Land Information System that employs nationally standardized business processes, ensuring the quality and accuracy of land and mineral records and data, while securely delivering land records information to relevant BLM employees, customers, and the public.  MLRS will provide stability, adaptability, reliability, and longevity for the BLM, while reducing the BLM’s operational costs, enhancing workforce productivity, and improving the quality of lands and minerals information and records. MLRS will replace the Legacy Rehost 2000 (LR2000) and Alaska Land Information System (ALIS) case management systems incrementally over the course of the next several years. MLRS will also replace the mapping functionality currently provided by the Oregon Land Status System (ORLSS).

Pay.gov is a program of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that enables users to make and manage online payments to Federal agencies, including the BLM.  The use of the Pay.gov interface in MLRS will replace the function currently in the BLM’s Payment Portal for Mining Claims for payment of mining claim yearly maintenance fees, as well as expand for the payment of many other mining claim fees, such as processing fees for evidence of assessment work, notices of intent to hold, transfers of interest and amendments.

This IM does not affect Alaska mining claim filings or Alaska mining claim fee payments, since ALIS is not planned to be decommissioned until LR2000 is fully migrated to MLRS.

Administrative or Mission Related:  Mission.

Policy/Action:  The LR2000 Mining Claim Recordation Module and the Mining Claim Payment Portal will be decommissioned on January 25, 2021.  All applicable BLM officials are instructed to use the MLRS for creating new mining claim cases and updating existing mining claim cases beginning on January 25, 2021.

Internal BLM users of the LR2000 Mining Claim Recordation Module will be directed to use MLRS, once the MLRS mining claim module is released in the production environment on January 25, 2021.  External BLM customers will be directed to use MLRS and Pay.gov for new mining claims, existing mining claim maintenance, and fee payments on January 25, 2021.  Customers who choose not to use the online system may continue to file their mining claims in-person in the BLM’s public rooms or by mail. External users may access https://blm.gov/mlrs for more information on MLRS.

The BLM’s legacy land information systems, LR2000, ALIS, and ORLSS, will be replaced with MLRS using a phased, modular approach.  LR2000 will be incrementally phased out over the next two years, beginning with the Mining Claim Recordation Module.  The remaining legacy land information systems, ALIS and ORLSS, will subsequently be phased out following the migration of the remaining LR2000 case types to MLRS.

The BLM’s official land status records, Master Title Plats, Historical Indexes, Tract Books, and Use Plats are planned to be replaced by MLRS in the phase following ALIS and ORLSS migration.

Timeframe:  Critical Dates for transitioning the mining claim application to the MLRS are below.

LR2000 Mining Claim Recordation Transition

• August 1, 2020: Began distribution of printed informational bookmarks to external users via system receipts and mailings.
• August 2, 2020: Launched MLRS informational email campaign for external users.
• September 1, 2020: MLRS posters distributed to public rooms.
• October 25, 2020: Virtual meeting conducted and information packages containing MLRS launch information for businesses, associations, and state leadership teams were distributed.
• December 11, 2020:  Customer IDs were sent to LR2000 business account holders to be used to establish their online identity.
• January 11, 2021:  Final mining claim data migrated from LR2000.
• January 21, 2021:  Last day to use LR2000 for mining claims.
• January 24, 2021:  All data updates for mining claim information received between January 11, 2021, and January 21, 2021, will be migrated to MLRS.
• January 25, 2021:  LR2000 mining claim functionality will transition to MLRS.
• January 25, 2021:  BLM mining claim customers will be able to establish an online MLRS account for the creation and maintenance of their mining claim cases.

Note:  Following decommissioning of the LR2000 Mining Claim Recordation Module, all data entry for new and existing mining claims will be accomplished using MLRS.  LR2000 Mining Claim Recordation data will only be available as read-only for mining claim case types.

BLM Payment Portal for Mining Claims:

• January 15, 2021:  BLM Payment Portal for Mining Claims will be decommissioned at 5:00PM PST.
• January 25, 2021:  Customers will use MLRS and Pay.gov for recording mining claims and making online mining claim fee payments.

1. Data Freeze:  January 21, 2021 will be the last day to use LR2000 for data entry and processing of mining claims.  LR2000 mining claim data will “freeze” in place and will be made read-only as of January 21, 2021, at 5:00PM PST.
2. Data Migration:  Final data pull from LR2000 occurred on January 11, 2021.  All data updates for mining claim information entered in LR2000 between January 11, 2021, and January 21, 2021, will be migrated to MLRS on January 24, 2021.
3. User Login:  BLM internal users will submit a Remedy Ticket for a new MLRS account using BLM’s National Help Desk Remedy System.  Once appropriate training in MLRS has been completed, and the user is approved for access to the BLM User Console, access roles, and permissions will be created by User Support Specialists at https://1800blmhelp.blm.gov/.
4. Public Room Access:  A common technology footprint has been established within the BLM’s public rooms that includes two computers for public access to MLRS. Access to specific BLM and DOI websites have been approved and are available for use from the public room computers. States will need to provide printers, with scanning capability, to support in-person MLRS customers with document printing and scanning.
5. Help Desk: BLM’s Public Help Desk will be modified to include the MLRS application and will be used to triage application issues and work to resolve external customer support problems. https://phd.blm.gov/
6. Training:  Training will begin with ‘Train-the-Trainer’ sessions for specific MLRS modules and then progress to end-user training.
7. Permissions/Security:  The MLRS application uses DOI Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) accounts for internal users (BLM employees/contractors) and the user credentials are verified through the ADFS single sign-on flow each time the user signs in. BLM users will be granted roles and permissions to MLRS for specific program areas.  The User Support Specialist will receive the MLRS access ticket and assign specific roles and permissions for access within MLRS.

Budget Impact:  The application of this policy will have minimal budget impact for documenting mining claim case information and case actions for new mining claim applications or pending actions on existing mining claim records using MLRS versus using the legacy LR2000 Mining Claim Recordation Module.  The BLM anticipates a workload reduction by having customers manage their own mining claims and sites within MLRS; submitting their new claims and sites online and entering data subject to BLM verification; making their payments online with automatic database updates; monitoring the status of their filings so there can be near real-time communication between customers and the BLM regarding any issues with their filings; and updating their own address information.

Background:  LR2000 provides information on non-Alaska BLM land and mineral use authorizations for oil, gas, and geothermal leasing, rights-of-way, coal and other mineral development, land and mineral title, mining claims, withdrawals, classifications, and other actions on Federal lands or on Federal mineral estate.  The LR2000 Mining Claim Recordation Module contains information on mining claims located on Federal lands within the lower 48 states.

Manual/ Handbook Sections Affected:  BLM Manual 3830 and H-3830-1 Handbook – Administration of Mining Claims, Mill Sites, and Tunnel Sites https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/uploads/mediacenter_blmpolicymanual3830.pdf

Coordination:  The Division of Solid Minerals (HQ-320), Division of Lands, Realty & Cadastral Survey (HQ-350), and the National Operations Center, Directorate of Information Technology Management (NOC-371).

Contact:  If you have any questions regarding this IM, please contact Lindsey Curnutt, Chief, Division of Solid Minerals (HQ-320) at (480) 708-7339, email address lcurnutt@blm.gov

Signed by:                                                                                  Authenticated By:

Nicholas Douglas, Assistant Director                                         Hilary Zarin 

Energy, Minerals and Realty Management (HQ-300)                Division of Regulatory Affairs (HQ-630)