Toward a Bureau of Landscape Management: The Evolution of BLM's Conservation Mission

Phillip H. Hanceford
Nada Wolff Culver

Abstract

The years 2011 and 2012 mark important milestones for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior. The 65th anniversary of the agency, the 35th anniversary of its organic act, FLPMA, the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act, and the 200th anniversary of the agency’s predecessor, the General Land Office. With these events and the dawning of a new age of conservation within the BLM by entering the second decade of the National Landscape Conservation System, it is appropriate to take a step back to examine where the agency has come from and the current trends in “multiple use” management and conservation. Throughout its rich history, BLM’s management philosophy has evolved along with principles of multiple use and notions of conservation; from the age of disposal to retention and management of lands for a few dominant uses, to multiple use management including conservation. BLM is now tasked to respond to unprecedented challenges that threaten to change even the most basic assumptions of land management, especially in the face of global climate change. Prioritizing conservation of ecosystems over other uses is not optional, but must become the new charge of the BLM to save our rich public land heritage. The creation of the National Landscape Conservation System is a good start, but the entire agency must continue to embrace its conservation mission and continue to evolve from its commodity-driven past. This paper will look back at the evolution of the BLM’s conservation mission as a vital part of its mandate, including multiple use, through the agency’s creation and the first fundamental shifts toward retaining public lands for public use and management. The paper will then discuss how the conservation aspect of the agency’s mission developed along with the enactment of keystone environmental laws and the enactment of FLPMA, while continuing to incorporate additional conservation designations. The National Landscape Conservation System is discussed in terms of how the establishment of this entirely new system shows the importance of conservation lands to the BLM, and then in terms of how the National Landscape Conservation System is continuing to incorporate conservation-focused management into BLM’s broader multiple use mandate, the types of management that best embody the mission of the system, and the need for additional guidance to solidify the new system. Finally, the paper looks forward to how the BLM’s conservation mission will continue to grow and how the agency can nurture this growth.