| Bureau of Land Management | |
|---|---|
| Bureau of Land Management Triangle | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1946 |
| Preceding agencies | US Grazing Service General Land Office |
| Jurisdiction | Federal Government of the United States |
| Headquarters | 1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665 Washington DC 20240 |
| Employees | 10,000 Permanent (FY2010) |
| Annual budget | $960,000,000 (FY2010 operating) |
| Agency executives | Robert Abbey, Director Bureau of Land Management Marcilynn Burke, Deputy Director (Policy) Mike Pool, Deputy Director (Operations) |
| Parent agency | US Department of the Interior |
| Website | |
| blm.gov | |
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 253 million acres (1,020,000 km2), or one-eighth of the landmass of the country.[1] The BLM also manages 700 million acres (2,800,000 km2) of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private lands. Most public lands are located in western states, including Alaska. With approximately 10,000 permanent employees and close to 2,000 seasonal employees, this works out to over 21,000 acres (85 km2) per employee. Its budget is US$960,000,000 for 2010 ($3.79 per surface acre, $9.38 per hectare).[2]
The BLM's stated mission is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
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The BLM's pure 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, the United States 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 Homestead Act 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 repealed or superseded 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 decided 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. 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 (a product of the country's territorial expansion and the federal government's nineteenth-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).
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 regulates activities in hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, boating, hang gliding, shooting, off-highway vehicle driving, mountain biking, birding, and visiting natural and cultural heritage sites.
The BLM administers 205,498 miles (330,717 km) of fishable streams, 2.2 million acres (8,900 km2) of lakes and reservoirs, 6,600 miles (10,600 km) 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 (7,200 km) 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.
Of the BLM’s 253 million acres (1,020,000 km2), the Bureau manages 55 million acres (220,000 km2) of forests and woodlands, including 11 million acres (45,000 km2) of commercial forest and 44 million acres (180,000 km2) of woodlands within 11 western States and Alaska. 53 million acres (210,000 km2) are productive forests and woodlands on Public Domain lands and 2.4 million acres (9,700 km2) 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 (230,000 km2) of Indian lands. In addition, the BLM also has a National Wild Horse and Burro Program in which it manages animals on public rangelands. Even though the BLM manages one of the largest amount of public land in the United States, resource protection of BLM public lands is being done on an on-going reduced budget, with uniformed law enforcement rangers patrolling an average of 1.45 million acres (5,900 km2) per ranger.
The BLM is a significant revenue producer to the United States budget. In 2009, public lands were expected to generate an estimated $6.2 billion in revenues, mostly from energy development. Nearly 43.5 percent of these receipts are provided directly to states and counties to support roads, schools, and other community needs.[4]
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.
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 including wilderness study areas.
The BLM is a major employer of wildland firefighters, range conservationists, foresters, botanists, land specialists, geologists, archaeologists, biologists, outdoor recreation planners, and surveyors.
The BLM Office of Law Enforcement & Security, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. government. All Law Enforcement Rangers and Special Agents receive their training through Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Law Enforcement Rangers attend the Land Management Police Training (LMPT) academy at FLTEC. While BLM Special Agents attend the Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) at FLETC.
BLM Law Enforcement Rangers and Special Agents make up the law enforcement capability of the BLM. Rangers and Special Agents are located in each of the western states that have BLM lands. Law Enforcement Rangers make up the uniformed high visibility enforcement of laws. Special Agents investigate crimes against property, visitors and employees.
Uniformed Law Enforcement Rangers enforce Federal laws and regulations governing BLM lands and resources. As part of that mission Law Enforcement Rangers carry firearms, defensive equipment, make arrests, execute search warrants, complete reports and testify in court. They establish a regular and recurring presence on a vast amount of public lands, roads, and recreation sites. The primary focus of their jobs is the protection of natural resources, protection of BLM employees and the protection of visitors. They use K-9s, Helicopters, snowmobiles, Dirt Bikes and Boats to dispense their duties.
Special Agents are criminal investigators who plan and conduct investigations concerning possible violations of criminal and administrative provisions of the BLM and other statutes under the United States Code. Special agents are normally plain clothes officers who carry concealed firearms, and other defensive equipment, make arrests, carry out complex criminal investigations, present cases for prosecution to U.S. Attorneys, and prepare investigative reports. Criminal investigators occasionally conduct internal and civil claim investigations.
The BLM manages free-roaming horses and burros on public lands in 10 western states. They classify these animals as feral, but are also obligated to protect them under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. As horses have few natural predators, populations have grown substantially. BLM estimates that as of 2009, there were nearly 37,000 horses and burros on BLM-managed rangelands. The BLM claims that that is 10,000 more animals than can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses. BLM holds about 32,000 additional animals in long-and short term holding facilities and adopts out several thousand each year.[5]
The BLM conducts environmental assessments, detailed scientific documents designed to examine land and animal health, before each gather. After conducting these assessments, BLM determines how many horses it will remove from the range. In most cases, environmental assessments determine that horses must be removed because increasing herd numbers are damaging rangeland health, stream and river areas, and native wildlife habitat. In most Herd Management Areas throughout the arid West, food for horses quickly becomes scarce, especially during drought or long winters. Scientists have found that one horse can require up to 20 acres (81,000 m2) of rangeland to sustain nutritional health for one month.
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, as amended, authorizes BLM to humanely put down horses for which no adoption demand exists.[6]
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar proposed on October 7, 2009, a new approach to restore the health of America’s wild horse herds and the public rangelands that support them.[7] His proposal includes the possible creation of "wild" horse preserves on the productive grasslands of the Midwest and East. Salazar also proposed showcasing certain herds on public lands in the West that warrant distinct recognition with Secretarial or possibly congressional designations and applying new strategies to balance population growth rates with adoption demand (such as the use of fertility control). The Salazar proposal, which is subject to congressional approval, includes making adoptions more flexible where appropriate to encourage more people to adopt horses.
In one of his last official acts of office, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has helped pave the way for his replacement, Ken Salazar, by authorizing the BLM to establish offices that will expedite renewable energy development on the National System of Public Lands. The new Renewable Energy Coordination Offices will expedite the permitting of wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal projects on BLM-managed lands, along with the electrical transmission facilities needed to deliver the energy from those projects to power-thirsty cities.[8]
The offices will initially be located in the four states where companies have shown the greatest interest in renewable energy development: Arizona, California, Nevada, and Wyoming. The new offices will also improve the BLM's coordination with state agencies and other federal agencies, including DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.[8]
In October, 2009, Interior Secretary Salazar and BLM Director Bob Abbey officially opened the California Renewable Energy Coordination Office and are staffing additional offices in Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming. To lead the overall initiative, Secretary Salazar has established a National Renewable Energy Office at BLM’s Headquarters in Washington D.C.[9]
The four Renewable Energy Coordinating Offices have 62 positions to support the processing of renewable energy and transmission applications. Thirty-five additional renewable energy support staff have been identified for BLM renewable permitting teams in the western states of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah.
The BLM and the U.S. Forest Service issued Records of Decision in mid-January to amend 130 of their land use plans to support the designation of more than 6,000 miles (9,700 km) of energy transport corridors on federal lands in 11 Western States. The amendments were based on analyses presented in a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) that was prepared by the BLM, DOE and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Defense as part of their work to implement the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The PEIS, released late last year, identifies energy corridors in the West for transmission and distribution lines that will help facilitate the development of renewable energy resources. The energy corridors could also carry pipelines for oil, natural gas, and hydrogen. Approximately 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of energy corridors are located on BLM-managed lands, while nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of energy corridors are on U.S. Forest Service lands. Roughly 120 miles (190 km) of corridor segments are on lands managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, and the Department of Defense.[8]
On December 19, 2008, a BLM land drilling auction was disrupted when a University of Utah student, Tim DeChristopher, successfully outbid other organizations for thousands of acres of land.[10]
The BLM is currently reviewing its policies for leasing land for oil shale development. In March, 2011, the BLM issued the following statement:
"As there are no economically viable ways yet known to extract and process oil shale for commercial purposes, and Utah tar sands deposits are not at present a proven commercially-viable energy source, the BLM, through its planning process, intends to take a hard look at whether it is appropriate for approximately 2,000,000 acres to remain available for potential development of oil shale, and approximately 431,224 acres of public land to remain available for potential development of tar sands."[11]
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