US BLM logo

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately 261 million surface acres (1,056,229.52 km²) or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. Most public lands are located in western states. With approximately 9,000 permanent employees, and over 1,000 more temporary, this works out to over 26,000 acres per employee. BLM figures for total land under their management range as high as 264 million surface acres. United States Bureau of Land Management logo. ... United States Bureau of Land Management logo. ... The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a Cabinet department of the United States government that manages and conserves most federally-owned land. ... In all modern states, some land is held by central or local governments. ...

Mission

The Bureau of Land Management states that it is their mission to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.

History

The BLM's roots go back to the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. These laws provided for the survey and settlement of the lands that the original 13 colonies ceded to the Federal government after the War of Independence. As additional lands were acquired by the United States from Spain, France, and other countries, Congress directed that they be explored, surveyed, and made available for settlement. In 1812, Congress established the General Land Office in the Department of the Treasury to oversee the disposition of these Federal lands. As the 19th century progressed and the Nation's land base expanded further west, Congress encouraged the settlement of the land by enacting a wide variety of laws, including the Homesteading Laws and the Mining Law of 1872. 1785 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The NW ORdinace (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio, and also known as the Freedom Ordinance) was an act of the Continental Congress of the United States passed on July 13, 1787 under the Articles of Confederation. ... 1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The term War of Independence is generally used to describe a war occurring over a territory that has declared independence. ... A congress is a gathering of people, especially a gathering for a political purpose. ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The General Land Office, a former agency of the United States government, was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury relating to the public domain. ... The United States Department of the Treasury is a Cabinet department, a treasury, of the United States government established by an Act of U.S. Congress in 1789 to manage the revenue of the United States government. ... Broadly, homesteading is a lifestyle of agrarian self-sufficiency. ... 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

These statutes served one of the major policy goals of the young country—settlement of the Western territories. With the exception of the Mining Law of 1872 and the Desert Land Act of 1877 (which was amended), all have since been repealed or superseded by other statutes. The Desert Land Act was passed by the United States Congress on 3 March 1877 to encourage and promote the economic development of the arid and semiarid public lands of the Western United States. ... 1877 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Snow covered cliffs of Snake River Canyon, Idaho, managed by the Boise District of the BLM

The late 19th century marked a shift in Federal land management priorities with the creation of the first national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges. By withdrawing these lands from settlement, Congress signaled a shift in the policy goals served by the public lands. Instead of using them to promote settlement, Congress recognized that they should be held in public ownership because of their other resource values. Image File history File linksMetadata Snake_River_Canyon_edited. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Snake_River_Canyon_edited. ...

In the early 20th century, Congress took additional steps toward recognizing the value of the assets on public lands and directed the Executive Branch to manage activities on the remaining public lands. The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 allowed leasing, exploration, and production of selected commodities such as coal, oil, gas, and sodium to take place on public lands. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 established the U.S. Grazing Service to manage the public rangelands. And the Oregon and California (O&C) Act of August 28, 1937, required sustained yield management of the timberlands in western Oregon. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the executive is the branch of a government charged with implementing, or executing, the law. ... The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 authorizes and governs leasing of public lands for developing deposits of coal, phosphates, petroleum, natural gas and other hydrocarbons and sodium in the United States. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (strip mining). ... Oil is a generic term for organic liquids that are not miscible with water. ... A gas is one of the four main phases of matter (after solid and liquid, and followed by plasma), that subsequently appear as a solid material is subjected to increasingly higher temperatures. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sodium, Na, 11 Chemical series alkali metals Group, Period, Block 1, 3, s Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 22. ... The Taylor Grazing Act is an Act of Congress of the United States. ... Official language(s) None Capital Salem Largest city Portland Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 9th 255,026 km² 420 km 580 km 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 402. ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1946, the Grazing Service was merged with the General Land Office (a product of the country's territorial expansion and the federal government's 19th-century homesteading policies) to form the Bureau of Land Management within the Department of the Interior. When the BLM was initially created, there were over 2,000 unrelated and often conflicting laws for managing the public lands. The BLM had no unified legislative mandate until Congress enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a Cabinet department of the United States government that manages and conserves most federally-owned land. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In FLPMA, Congress recognized the value of the remaining public lands by declaring that these lands would remain in public ownership. Congress used the term "multiple use" management, defined as "management of the public lands and their various resource values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people."

The BLM today

The BLM manages a higher percentage of land in Nevada than in any other state. The basin and ranges of central Nevada are seen in this photo, along with Walker Lake, Nevada, Mono Lake, California, and the Sierra Nevada in the upper right of photograph

The BLM offers visitors opportunities in the following areas: hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, boating, hang gliding, off-highway vehicle driving, mountain biking, birding, and visiting natural and cultural heritage sites. The BLM administers 205,498 miles of fishable streams, 2.2 million acres of lakes and reservoirs, 6,600 miles of floatable rivers, over 500 boating access points, 69 National Back Country Byways, and 300 Watchable Wildlife sites. The BLM also manages 4,500 miles of National Scenic, Historic, and Recreational Trails, as well as thousands of miles of multiple use trails used by motorcyclists, hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers. Image File history File links Basin_range_photo. ... Image File history File links Basin_range_photo. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hang gliding is one of the windsports. ... A mountain biker climbs on an off-road track Mountain biking is the sport of riding bicycles off paved roads. ... Birding or birdwatching is a hobby concerned with the observation and study of birds (the study proper is termed American origin; birdwatching is (or more correctly, was) the commonly-used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States. ... Lake Clearwater, Ontario, Canada A lake is a large body of water, usually fresh water, surrounded by land. ... A reservoir (French: réservoir) is an artificial lake created by flooding land behind a dam. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Of BLM’s 261 million acres, the Bureau manages 55 million acres of forests and woodlands, including 11 million acres of commercial forest and 44 million acres of woodlands within 11 western States and Alaska. Fifty-three million acres are productive forests and woodlands on Public Domain lands and 2.4 million acres are on Oregon and California Grant lands in western Oregon. Additionally, as part of its trust responsibility, the BLM oversees minerals operations on 56 million acres of Indian lands. The BLM also has a National Wild Horse and Burro Program in which it manages animals on public rangelands. A dense growth of softwoods (a forest) in the Sierra Nevada Range of Northern California A forest is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, a wooded area set aside for hunting). ... Limber Pine woodland, Toiyabe Range, central Nevada Biologically, a woodland is differentiated from a forest. ... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 1st 663,267 mi² / 1 717 854 km² 808 mi / 1300 km 1,479 mi / 2380 km 13. ... Official language(s) None Capital Salem Largest city Portland Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 9th 255,026 km² 420 km 580 km 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 402. ...

Horses crossing a plain near the Simpson Park Wilderness Study Area in central Nevada, managed by the Battle Mountain BLM Field Office

Increasingly, the BLM has had to address the needs of a growing and changing West. Ten of the 12 western States with significant proportions of BLM-managed lands have among the fastest rates of population growth in the United States. Image File history File links Simpson_Park. ... Image File history File links Simpson_Park. ...

One of the BLM's goals is to recognize the demands of public land users while addressing the needs of traditional user groups and working within smaller budgets. Perhaps one of the Bureau's greatest challenges is to develop more effective land management practices, while becoming more efficient at the same time.

The BLM has a wide range of responsibilities, including collecting geographic information, maintaining records of land ownership and mineral rights, conserving wilderness areas while allocating other areas for grazing and agriculture, and protecting cultural heritage sites on public land. The BLM operates the National Landscape Conservation System, which protects some U.S. National Monuments, some National Wild and Scenic Rivers, and some designated wildernesses among other types of areas. The National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) houses all of the designated special places on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a agency of the U.S government. ... A U.S. National Monument is a protected area of the United States that is similar to a national park (specifically a U.S. National Park) except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a national monument without Congressional... National Wild and Scenic River is a designation for certain protected areas in the United States. ...

BLM is a major employer of wildfire firefighters and park rangers. The Old Fire burning in the San Bernardino Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, brush fire, or bushfire (in Australasia), is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wildland areas, but which can also consume houses or... Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ... A Park Ranger is a person charged with protecting and preserving parkland, forests (then called Forest Rangers), wilderness areas other natural resources. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the BLM website, which is in the public domain.

The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External link

• Official Bureau of Land Management Website
• Land managed by the BLM map - [1]