Wildlife Management
What We Manage
More than 3,000 species of wildlife occur on BLM’s more than 245 million acres in 23 States, dispersed over some of the Nation’s most ecologically diverse and essential habitat. In fact, the BLM manages more wildlife habitat than any other Federal or state agency.
BLM-managed lands are vital to big game, upland game, waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, raptors and hundreds of species of non-game mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
Wildlife-related activities on BLM’s lands, such as hunting or bird watching, contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefits to local communities.
The BLM and the Sage-Grouse: The BLM manages 30 million acres of sagebrush habitat occupied by the greater sage-grouse in 11 States. This is about half of the remaining sagebrush habitat in the U.S. The sage-grouse is a Candidate Species for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
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What We Do
The BLM’s Wildlife Management Program maintains and manages wildlife habitat to help ensure self-sustaining populations and a natural abundance and diversity of wildlife on public lands. In order to provide for the long-term protection of wildlife resources, the BLM supports numerous habitat conservation and restoration activities, many funded through partnerships with Federal, State and non-governmental organizations.
Today, the BLM is taking a more strategic approach to wildlife management, focusing on habitat conditions across entire landscapes. The BLM is currently working with its partners and State fish and game agencies to identify top conservation priorities for wildlife habitat and to design systems to monitor progress toward achieving conservation goals for those priorities, often across jurisdictional boundaries. These priorities, or targets, can be species, ecosystems, vegetation cover types, or specific sites. An emphasis is placed on identifying conservation activities that may reduce the effects of habitat stressors such as non-native species or climate change.
In preparation for this new strategic approach, the BLM began a series of workshops in 2010 facilitated by scientists from The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment and University of Nevada-Reno. A comprehensive overview, Measuring the Results of Wildlife Conservation Activities, is available on the H. John Heinz Center website at http://www.heinzctr.org or by clicking the image at left.
The BLM’s Wildlife Management Program also provides support for land use planning and development of conservation plans for species at risk, such as the greater and Gunnison sage-grouse, lesser prairie chickens, white-tailed, black-tailed and Gunnison’s prairie dogs, mountain plover, swift fox, and forest carnivores such as the fisher, pine marten and their habitats.
The BLM works closely with States in implementing their State Wildlife Action Plans and with a number of National Wildlife Partners, including Watchable Wildlife, Inc.
The BLM also participates with other agencies in national strategies concerning serious wildlife issues, such as White-Nose Syndrome currently spreading in bats at alarming rates.
Click on the Links Below for More Information about the BLM's Wildlife Programs.
Note: Case Studies provided in these links represent only a few of the thousands of on-the-ground projects conducted by the BLM and its partners each year. For more information on field-level work, go to www.blm.gov, find the map and click on the state you are interested in. That will take you to the BLM State and Field Office websites.
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Habitat Conservation
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Working With Others
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Landscape Connections
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