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Mission
It is the mission of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to act as a steward in sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for multiple use and enjoyment by present and future generations.
The origin of BLM goes 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 granted 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 transfer of ownership 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.
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 abandoned or replaced by other statutes.
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.
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, while the Oregon and California (O&C) Act of August 28, 1937, required sustained yield management of the timberlands in western Oregon.
In 1946, the Grazing Service was merged with the General Land Office to form the BLM 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).
In FLPMA, Congress recognized the value of the remaining public lands by declaring that these lands would remain in public ownership. Congress also gave us 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 is the Nation’s largest public land management agency. It is responsible for managing about 264 million acres of land, which is equivalent to about one-eighth of the land in the United States. It is also responsible for managing about 300 million additional acres of surface and subsurface mineral resources, as well as wildland fire management and suppression on about 388 million acres.
Most of the lands the BLM is responsible for managing are located in the western United States, including Alaska, and are dominated by extensive grasslands, forests, high mountains, arctic tundra, and deserts. The BLM manages a wide variety of resources and uses, including energy and minerals; timber; forage; recreation; wild horse and burro populations; fish and wildlife habitat; wilderness areas; archaeological, paleontological, and historical sites; and other natural heritage values.
The BLM administers public lands within a framework of numerous laws. The most comprehensive of these is FLPMA. All Bureau policies, procedures, and management actions must be consistent with FLPMA and the other laws that govern use of the public lands.
Today, there are more than 10,000 BLM employees and 20,000 BLM volunteers overseeing every area of the agency’s day-to-day operations; and these operations are very large:
Bureau employees oversee the grazing activities of close to 20,000 livestock operations across 170 million areas of public land.
Over 2 million people visit BLM lands each year to enjoy recreational activities, such as hiking, biking, picnicking, camping, boating, educational experiences, bird-watching, and more.
Timber sales on BLM administered lands totals in the millions of dollars received from 20,000-plus sales, both large and small.
The agency is the caretaker of 5 million historic and archeological properties that provide a dramatic record of humanity’s 12,000 year presence in the New World.
Since 1972, more than 120,000 wild horses and burros have found homes through the Bureau’s adoption program.
The BLM wildlands contain 115 different ecosystems, including artic areas, alpine meadows and barrens, forested mountain slopes, short-grass prairies, coastal areas, low-elevation riparian habitat areas, and several American deserts.
Agency geologists and mineral specialists administer close to 60,000 oil, gas, and geothermal leases.
The BLM wildland firefighters help control 1,000-plus wildfires per year, saving lives and property while protecting valuable public land resources.
The BLM wildlife biologists manage 200 million acres of big game habitat that is also home to over 1.5 million deer, 250,000 elk, and 365,000 antelope. In addition, they help to manage acres of habitat for a more diverse species of wildlife, such as raptors, big and small game birds, songbirds, reptiles, mammals, insects, fish and more.
Several hundred employees provide a wide spectrum of legal, information resource management, administrative, and financial support services.
BLM Web Sites
The Bureau of Land Management:
http://www.blm.gov
Walk
on the Wild Side: Explore Your Public Lands
The Bureau of Land Management in Nevada: http://www.nv.blm.gov
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