On National Public Lands Day, BLM celebrates volunteerism across the country

The 33rd annual National Public Lands Day brought volunteers together across Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-managed public lands around the nation to restore habitats, improve trails, clean waterways, monitor dark skies, and advance local bird conservation efforts. 

National Public Lands Day brings communities together to volunteer, learn, and care for America’s shared natural and historic places. National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) leads national coordination and outreach, while the BLM turns that effort into on-the-ground opportunities by hosting service and educational events on BLM-managed lands. Together, they help volunteers make tangible improvements while building stronger connections to their public lands. 

This year’s National Public Lands Day occurred in tandem with the ongoing celebration of America’s 250th birthday, which saw the rollout of the BLM’s Freedom 250 Volunteer Celebration with support from the Foundation for America’s Public Lands, the BLM’s official charitable partner. The purpose of the initiative is to highlight and expand opportunities for volunteerism across the country.   

“National Public Lands Day is the largest single‑day volunteer event for public lands, and its alignment with the Department of the Interior’s Freedom 250 Celebration, demonstrates the powerful legacy, and future, of stewardship across the nation,” said Carla Bock, BLM’s Acting Assistant Director for National Conservation Lands & Community Partnerships.   

Today, BLM remains one of the nation’s strongest leaders in public lands stewardship, volunteer engagement, and community partnerships. In 2026, BLM hosted more than 100 National Public Lands Day events, providing more than 7,000 community members with a wide range of meaningful ways to contribute to their public lands.  

Early estimates show that across the federal agencies, more than 50,000 volunteers participated in nearly 700 National Public Lands Day events held in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and several territories. Notably, BLM was the leader in the number of National Public Lands Day project opportunities.   

The Foundation for America’s Public Lands provided more than 6,600 volunteers with a special Freedom 250 volunteer recognition t-shirt to commemorate their service. 

Some of the National Public Lands Day event successes included seed-capsule creation in Utah, litter collection along Idaho’s Clearwater River, habitat restoration for the threatened Gunnison sage-grouse in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, cleanup activities at Nevada’s Pirate Mine, bluebird box repairs and improved access to footbridges in Wyoming, and hands-on maintenance to strengthen California’s Lacks Creek trail system. 

For example, on public lands in California, the BLM, Horsetown-Clear Creek Preserve, Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, and Redding Trail Alliance hosted their National Public Lands Day event along the Lower Clear Creek Greenway. Volunteers helped clean up and repair damaged areas along the Greenway including picking up trash, removing graffiti, light trail work, and restoration work. 

In Colorado’s San Luis Valley, volunteers camped under star-filled skies while building Zeedyk structures to restore habitat for the threatened Gunnison sage-grouse—combining conservation work with a weekend of learning and connection. Zeedyk structures are low-tech, hand-built rock or wood formations designed (by former U.S. Forest Service biologist Bill Zeedyk) to restore wet meadows, small streams, and rangelands. 

In Idaho at the BLM’s Owyhee Field Office, volunteers spent time learning about the impacts of bird loss from window strikes locally and nationally and helped with the simple solution of installing window stickers. Volunteers were inspired to share the idea and encourage others to do the same at home or work.