Cultural Resources

The Bureau of Land Management is dedicated to balancing the stewardship, preservation, and enhancement of America's cultural resources across public lands with our multiple-use and sustained yield mission. We strive to protect and interpret archaeological, historical, and ethnographic resources in collaboration with Tribal nations and other stakeholders, ensuring their respectful co-stewardship while managing public lands for a variety of uses such as energy development, livestock grazing, recreation, and timber harvesting. 

People have inhabited lands now managed by the BLM for thousands of years. These lands connect the past and present through ongoing traditional use and by retaining invaluable evidence of human history. Preservation of our public lands and their resources is vital to protecting our shared cultural heritage for current and future generations.

Explore destinations where history, culture, and natural beauty converge.
Explore destinations where history, culture, and natural beauty converge.
Close up image of petroglyphs
Explore our stories that illustrate the deep connection between people and the land they call home.
Explore our stories that illustrate the deep connection between people and the land they call home.
The sun rises over stone ruins.
The vast public lands managed by the BLM feature significant evidence of the more than 10,000 years of human prehistory and history.
The vast public lands managed by the BLM feature significant evidence of the more than 10,000 years of human prehistory and history.
Pieces of broken pottery scattered on a rocky surface.
The BLM honors our intergovernmental relationships with Tribal Nations and upholds our trust and treaty responsibilities.
The BLM honors our intergovernmental relationships with Tribal Nations and upholds our trust and treaty responsibilities.
Two buttes towering over grassy area.
Cultural resources are a fragile, limited resource with potential public and scientific uses. They are an irreplaceable part of our nation's heritage.
Cultural resources are a fragile, limited resource with potential public and scientific uses. They are an irreplaceable part of our nation's heritage.
A rock formation relfects on a calm river