Bureau of Land Management

Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management Triangle
Flag of the Bureau of Land Management
Agency overview
FormedDecember 10, 1946; 77 years ago (1946-12-10)
Preceding agencies
JurisdictionUnited States federal government
Headquarters1849 C Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20240
EmployeesOver 10,000[1]
Annual budget$1.31 billion (FY2021)[2]
Agency executive
Parent agencyU.S. Department of the Interior
Websiteblm.gov Edit this at Wikidata

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2) of land, or one-eighth of the United States's total landmass.[3]

The Bureau was created by Congress during the presidency of Harry S. Truman in 1946 by combining two existing agencies: the United States General Land Office and the Grazing Service.[4] The agency manages the federal government's nearly 700 million acres (2,800,000 km2) of subsurface mineral estate located beneath federal, state and private lands severed from their surface rights by the Homestead Act of 1862.[4] Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.[5]

The mission of the BLM is "to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations."[6] Originally BLM holdings were described as "land nobody wanted" because homesteaders had passed them by.[5] All the same, ranchers hold nearly 18,000 permits and leases for livestock grazing on 155 million acres (630,000 km2) of BLM public lands.[7] The agency manages 221 wilderness areas, 29 national monuments and some 636 other protected areas as part of the National Conservation Lands (formerly known as the National Landscape Conservation System), totaling about 36 million acres (150,000 km2).[8] In addition the National Conservation Lands include nearly 2,400 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers,[9] and nearly 6,000 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails.[10] There are more than 63,000 oil and gas wells on BLM public lands. Total energy leases generated approximately $5.4 billion in 2013, an amount divided among the Treasury, the states, and Native American groups.[11][12][13]

  1. ^ "Working at BLM". blm.gov. Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  2. ^ Carol Hardy Vincent (June 7, 2021). Bureau of Land Management: FY2021 Appropriations (Report). Congressional Research Service. p. 1. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  3. ^ "Public Land Statistics". BLM. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Elliott, Clayton R. (August 2010). Innovation in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management: Insights from Integrating Mule Deer Management with Oil and Gas Leasing (Masters Thesis) (Thesis). University of Montana. pp. 42–51. hdl:2027.42/77588.
  5. ^ a b "History of the BLM: Yesterday and Today". BLM California. Archived from the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  6. ^ "The Bureau of Land Management: Who We Are, What We Do". BLM. Archived from the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  7. ^ "Fact Sheet on the BLM's Management of Livestock Grazing". BLM. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  8. ^ "National Conservation Lands". BLM. Archived from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  9. ^ "Programs: National Conservation Lands: Wild and Scenic Rivers | BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT". www.blm.gov. September 30, 2016. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  10. ^ "Programs: National Conservation Lands: National Scenic and Historic Trails | BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT". www.blm.gov. September 30, 2016. Archived from the original on January 30, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  11. ^ See Part 3 of the BLM's Public Land Statistics, "Commercial Uses and Revenue Generated"
  12. ^ "Oil and Gas". BLM. Archived from the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  13. ^ "New Energy for America". BLM. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2014.