Link to NLCS website NLCS linkScince Partnership LinkClick here for past featuresParnership Activities ButtonNew Feature - Mancos Shale Landscapes - Science and Management of Black Shale Terraings Draft Science Plan Summary Button Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area and Wilderness button Canyons of the Ancients National Monument button Colorado Canyons National Conservation Area and Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness Button Field Tour Observations Button Field Tour Participants button Partnership Activities buttonHome buttonObservations buttonParticipants buttonColorado Canyons buttonCanyons of the Ancients buttongunnison Gorge button
DOI logo, BLM logo, USGS logo, USGS-BLM Science Needs Field Tour. Partners attended a filed tour of the BLM National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) land areas serving as “outdoor laboratories” for the science partnership. The tour was a first step in assissing the areas’ science needs by allowing participants to observe, first hand, the effects of those needs on the landscapes. The objective was to determine how to gain access to additional scientific information and technological applications to help meet future resource demands, develope meaningful land use plans, and adapt the data collected for use by the BLM, local communities, and other partners. The tour included: US Department of the Interior - A Science Partnership to Address Future Challenges. United States Geological Survey - Bureau of Land Management - This science partnership will focus on the BLM’s National landscape Conservation System (NLCS) lands in Colorado as a template for a broader national perspective. The goal of the partnership is to make science available that is both objective and useful. The partners, along with other agency leaders, and local communmities are seeking to identify ways to resolve numerous land use issues that are relevant not only to the NLCS lands of this partnership, but also to other public and private lands. “Informed decisionmaking relies on high-quality science, which includes the translation of research findings into policy and management applications.’ James Tate, Jr., Science Advisor to the Secreatary of the Interior. “The best way to create balance is to get competing needs together.” Kathleen Clarke, BLM Director. “The strength of the USGS lies in its ability to interact with a wide range of customers and partners in carrying out studies on a national scale and in sustaining long-term monitoring and assessment capabilities.” Chip Groat, USGS Director. New Feature - Mancos Shale Landscapes - Science and Management of Black Shale Terrains - Draft Science Plan Summary. Click here for new features, Partnership Activities
Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area and Wilderness button showing the Gunnison River cutting through a green canyon
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument button showing Indian ruins
Colorado Canyons National Conservation Area and Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness button showing Canyon walls
Field Trip Observations button showing participants looking over valley
Field Tour Participants button showing participants in raft on a float trip
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Science Partnership

This partnership was initiated between the USGS Central Region and the BLM National Science and Technology Center (NSTC) and BLM Colorado State Office. The intent is to focus on BLM National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) lands in Colorado as a template for a broader national perspective. Recently designated BLM NLCS lands in Colorado are providing an opportunity for the partners to share their expertise—the skills and knowledge of their scientists and technical specialists—to help land and natural resource managers make better informed choices when facing future challenging resource decisions and in developing land use and resource management plans. The NLCS areas for this partnership include the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area and Wilderness, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area and Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness. These BLM lands will be receiving increased use from visitors desiring to discover and explore these “outdoor museums.” The BLM is seeking to balance preservation and protection with promotion and resource utilization.

Science Needs Field Tour

The goal of the partnership is to make science available that is both objective and useful. As a first step toward this goal, USGS and BLM managers, scientists, and other participants took part in a 5-day field tour —a science needs assessment—that was organized to discuss how Colorado’s new National Conservation Areas and National Monument could gain access to additional scientific information and technological applications to help in meeting future resource demands. These lands provide the perfect opportunity to serve as outdoor laboratories for investigations to implement, study, or monitor assorted land management activities. A major theme of the field tour was how to adapt the scientific data and information collected for use by the BLM, local communities, and other partners.

The science needs field tour enlightened participants on how their knowledge can be used to answer important issues and build trust between their local communities, agencies, and other partners. Both USGS and BLM learned how regional, interagency science teams can be successful in managing natural resources across jurisdictions. The two agencies will share their experience in building science into the BLM planning process by completing resource management plans for 2002 and 2003.

Issues To Be Addressed

The partners, along with other agency leaders and local communities, are seeking to identify ways to resolve numerous land-use issues that are relevant not only to the NLCS lands of this partnership, but also to other public and private lands. A number of scientific and cultural issues can be more effectively and efficiently addressed when both agencies work in partnership. Some of the questions that need to be answered include:

  • What pertinent data are readily available for plan development?
  • How can the data be used so that agencies can best provide assistance to local management?
  • What kinds of hazards or impacts will become relevant on these lands as the areas receive increased public visitation?
  • How will these lands be best managed, not only for preservation and protection, but also in balance with promotion and resource utilization?
  • What are the best ways to manage off-highway vehicles, water rights, wilderness use, regional haze, fire, archaeological sites, trail access, grazing, recreation, river use, land tenure adjustments, and rights-of-way use authorizations?
  • How will these issues and potential solutions help to integrate BLM’s planning documents with other agency and community plans?

To resolve such issues will involve continuing the integration of numerous science disciplines and local citizen working groups, in effect adapting scientific information for use by the local communities. In response to a list of high-priority science needs identified by NLCS managers, the USGS developed five project proposals. These proposals address common issues, such as: management of BLM Mancos shale landscapes, invasive weed management across the NLCS, fire risk and impact to cultural resources, the need for an integrated geologic inventory and map guide, and visitor attitudes toward potential changes in how NLCS lands are managed.
Colorado relief map showing location of the Colorado Canyons National Conservation Area and Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness, the Gunnison Gorge National Conservations Area and Wilderness, and the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
Content Manager - Scott Davis (Scott_Davis@blm.gov)
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