The Bureau of Land Management has launched an enhanced online image library that  combines thousands of digital photographs of landscapes and historical images of the American West.

The BLM Image Library, available through the BLM Website at http://photos.blm.gov, contains more than 60,000 images of public lands, mostly in 12 Western states, including Alaska. A special collection maintained by the BLM’s National Operations Center includes 3,600 historical photos dating back to the early surveys of the West. 

The BLM Image Library was established in 2001 and went on to become a popular resource used for publications, presentations, Websites, and news stories. The system has been upgraded and enhanced to work within the BLM’s redesigned Website. A large collection of images from the BLM-California State Office nearly doubled the size of the library to 64,000 images.

Among the images are thousands of illustrations of areas managed by the BLM, including National Monuments, National Conservation Areas, and popular recreation areas. The collection also includes spectacular images of the agency’s  vast landscape resources, as well as images of multiple uses and resources managed by the BLM, including livestock grazing, mineral development, energy production, wild horses and burros, wildfire, and cultural sites.

“We’re thrilled to have the Image Library back online,” said Jeff Krauss, the Chief of the BLM's Public Affairs Division.   “It has been  one of the BLM’s most popular Internet resources for graphic artists, educators, Web designers, and news organizations.  It will be a big help for people to visualize and promote the great landscapes we manage.”

Many of the images in the BLM Image Library are considered public domain. They may be used in print and electronic publications without further authorization from the BLM. However, users are asked to give photographic credit to the Bureau of Land Management. Most images are in JPG format and range in size from 800 pixels for Web and presentation use to 2000 pixels for publications. Historical images were scanned from black-and-white prints and saved in high-resolution TIF format.

The BLM manages more land – 258 million acres – than any other Federal agency.  Most of this public land is located in 12 Western States, including Alaska.  The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.  The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.  The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.