The Bureau of Land Management NEWS |
 |
|
The Bureau of Land Management NEWS |
|
|
Last updated: 04/04/03
Release date: March 27, 1996
Contact: Michelle Dawson, 202/452-5134
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), celebrating its 50th year during 1996, administers what remains of the Nation's vast land holdings -- the public domain. The public domain once stretched from the Appalachian Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. In historian Frederick Jackson Turner's words, it was "the richest free gift that was ever spread out before civilized man."
BLM today manages 270 million acres -- about one-eighth of America's land surface, or 41 percent of the lands under Federal ownership. With landscapes ranging from great expanses of sagebrush and tundra flats to eroded canyons and desert mountain ranges, BLM public lands offer an incredible variety of values and resources. Most BLM-managed public lands are located in the 11 Western States, and Alaska, although small parcels are scattered throughout the Eastern United States. BLM also manages 570 million acres of subsurface mineral estate.
To the young Nation, the public domain represented challenge and opportunity -- a thirsty wilderness waiting to be transformed into an agricultural Eden. The public lands have made a significant contribution to the American way of life. In our Nation's earliest years, the Federal Government and Congress became the legal guardian of the public lands. Public land policy generally provided for the disposal of the public lands. The land disposals built the country's economic foundation, opened the West to settlement, and united the vast expanses of land into one Nation.
Use and management of the public lands has changed throughout our Nation's history and continues to evolve. The public lands are a source of livestock forage, timber, and energy and mineral resources. Today, public lands are also valued for their environmental resources, the recreational opportunities they offer, the cultural resources they contain, and in an increasingly urban world, their vast open spaces.
In 1812, Congress established the General Land Office (GLO) to administer the public domain. The passage of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934 established the U.S. Grazing Service to provide active range management on public domain lands. Under its first director, Ferrington Carpenter, the new agency controlled the use of the public lands for grazing purposes, introduced policies, and implemented management approaches to improve the condition of the public rangelands.
In 1946, the Grazing Service and the GLO merged to become the Bureau of Land Management. "With that date," notes historian E. Louise Peffer, "there opened a new chapter in the history of public land administration in the United States." The new agency struggled to determine its mission. Finding a balance between its land disposal and conservation mandates proved daunting. Under the leadership of Marion Clawson, the second director, BLM began to meet this challenge. Through the years, BLM developed a land inventory, classification, and planning system, as well as adopted the philosophy of multiple use in administering public lands and resources. This policy created a system in which the same area of land could be used simultaneously for several purposes, often by different groups and individuals.
To meet today's changing and diverse demands, BLM is changing its management of the public lands. To maintain the health of the public lands, BLM is taking a landscape approach to land management. This promotes both biological diversity on the public lands and sustainable development of their resources. BLM's mandate under the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 requires the agency to manage the public lands to accommodate many uses, while protecting the long-term health of the land. BLM's mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. BLM's Corporate Agenda challenges the agency to maintain healthy ecosystems; serve current and future publics; promote collaborative leadership; improve business practices; and improve human resource management practices.
During 1996, BLM will be involved in a variety of events throughout the country to celebrate its 50th Golden Anniversary. Some of these events include the Partners Outdoors Fair in Washington, D.C., Utah's Centennial, Montana's Western Fair, Alaska's Golden Days, the Forest Congress in Washington, D.C., the National Association of Interpretation Conference in Billings, Montana, and the Outdoor Writers of America's Annual Conference in Minnetonka, Minnesota. BLM's Arizona Strip District launched its 50th Anniversary festivities by dedicating the Sunshine Mountain Bike Trial. The event hosted mountain bike enthusiasts who rode form Quail Hill Road to Little Black Mountain Petroglyph Site, located one mile south of St. George, Utah.
BLM has also developed -- BLOOMERS TO BRIEFCASES -- an exciting and challenging chronicle of BLM's history through a one-woman living history presentation by internationally acclaimed artist and performer Joyce Badgley Hunsaker. Composite characters Pioneer Pera Nowlin, Homesteader Maybelle Montana, War Bride Maggie Baker, Second Generation BLMer Amy Chamberlain, and District Manager Luisa Ramos "lived that history." These women were the "giants" of their day. They helped to tame the West and to build a new world. This riveting, entertaining, and educational hour-long living history performance is replete with humor and emotion, and draws from dramatic first-hand accounts, interviews, diaries, journals, and a multitude of published works associated with BLM and its epoch. BLOOMERS TO BRIEFCASES will be presented throughout the year at various BLM State Offices and events.
For additional information, please visit or call the BLM Office nearest you.
|
This page was created by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Office of Public Affairs 1849 C Street, Room 406-LS Washington, DC 20240 Phone: (202) 452-5125 Fax: (202) 452-5124 |
Please contact us with any questions relating to accessibility of documents. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader |
This is a U.S. Government Computer System. Before continuing, please read
this disclaimer
and privacy statement. Accessibility
|