BLM Forest & Woodlands Management Program

BLM Forest & Woodlands Management Program

One fourth of the lands – 58 million acres - managed by the BLM are forests or woodlands. These make up an important part of the BLM's multiple-use mission and are managed for a variety of critical uses for the benefit of all Americans. Forest and woodland management produces traditional products such as lumber, plywood, and paper as well as other uses such as poles, greenery, biomass for energy production, and fuelwood for personal use while maintaining high-quality wildlife habitat.

This website acts in conjunction with the BLM Forestry Sharepoint site. There you will find more information about things like events and calendars.

Landscape-scale Forest Restoration

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the U.S. Senate has held a number of hearings over the past several years inquiring on ways to increase the pace and scale of forest thinning to prevent catastrophic wildfire as well as restoring resilience to drought, insect, and disease. In 2014, SENR commissioned the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine federal landscape-scale forest restoration which resulted in this report (GAO 15-398) on improving information sharing on successful strategies for landscape-scale projects. In response, the BLM took a number of measures including providing this link to a collection of implementation resources such as contracting and NEPA examples. Some scientific literature also included:

Wildland Fire Effects in Silviculturally Treated vs. Untreated Stands in New Mexico and Arizona
Examines various silviculture and fuels treatments to determine changes in (1) susceptibility to stand-replacing crownfires, and (2) ecological and functional resilience compared to untreated stands following extreme wildland fire.

Ecological Restoration of Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Ecosystems: A Broad Perspecitive
The purpose of this paper is to promote a broad and flexible perspective on ecological restoration of Southwestern (U.S.) ponderosa pine forests.

Effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments: Assessing metrics of forest resiliency and wildfire severity after the Wallow Fire, AZ

This study examines how fuels reduction treatments contribute to ecosystem resilience, or the capacity of a system to absorb perturbation and return to a similar set of structures or processes.

On-line Training

Forestry 101
Timber Sale Contract Provisions
Good Neighbor Authority
Logging Safety Videos
Forestry Regulations Training Jan 2021

Latest Forestry Guidance

Updated Oregon/Washington Forestry 5400 Handbook: State Directors may use the Oregon/Washington Forestry Handbook as a reference with the understanding that each state has some discretion depending upon various forest management policies.

Stewardship End Result Contracting Projects MS-5920 : This manual is the latest Stewardship Contracting policy for the BLM.

Safety and Contractual Responsibility on Bureau of Land Management Contracts/Agreements Authorizing Logging Operations WO-IM-2016-045

Update and reissuance of the Good Neighbor Authority Policy Guidance IM 2018-008.

Tribal Biomass Demonstration Projects IB 2020-013.

Woodland Management

Restoring Biodiversity to Pinyon-Juniper Ecosystems
This article from the Journal of Ecological Restoration presents findings from examining thinning treatments to improve wildlife habitat. It is also a good example of how monitoring various wildlife in a forest restoration project.

Restoration Studies in Degraded Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands of North-central New Mexico
This article provides an example of various treatment methods including lop and scatter to increase herbaceous ground cover in Bandelier National Monument.

Ancient Pinon_Juniper Forests of Mesa Verde and the West: A Cautionary Note for Forest Restoration Program
Abstract: Fuel reduction and fire mitigation activities may be linked to restoration of overall forest health, but the two goals do not always coincide. We illustrate the importance of understanding both historic and contemporary fire regimes by evaluating the pinyon-juniper forests of Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. These dense forests are characterized by infrequent, severe fires occurring at intervals of many centuries.