Reimagining Public Lands — John Stansfield, Wild Connections
This year we celebrate 75 years of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — and look to the future of publicly-managed lands. For its anniversary, the BLM has asked us all to “Reimagine Your Public Lands” as the agency looks to manage more than 245 million acres for future generations. We’ve invited BLM Wild partners and friends to share their love of BLM-managed places and reflections about the opportunity to reimagine public land management.
John Stansfield is the Vice President of Wild Connections, a Colorado nonprofit whose mission is to identify, protect, and restore wildlands, native species, and biological diversity in the Arkansas and South Platte watersheds. These places are the ancestral lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other Indigenous peoples.
Q: The Bureau of Land Management’s theme for its 75th Anniversary is “Reimagine Your Public Lands.” What does reimagining BLM-managed public lands mean to you?
A: Starting in the early 1970s with the Arkansas Valley canyons, my introductions to BLM-managed lands were twofold — exciting discoveries in the wild nature of the country and starting from scratch to understand the complex history, laws, and actions involved in public land management. It has turned out to be a long and engaging learning process.
In reimagining my own journey, I hope for young people who will imagine adventure, education, employment, and the desire to protect the treasures found in public lands.
Q: How have you been involved in advocating for the conservation of significant BLM-managed lands in your state or region?
A: My primary involvement in BLM lands in my region has been in the realm of conserving wild lands, from Initial and Final Wilderness inventories through Wilderness Study Areas and Lands with Wilderness Characteristics to advocating for Colorado Wilderness designations. Along the way, I enjoyed two hitches with the BLM’s Front Range Resource Advisory Council totaling 12 years.
Q: What is one of your favorite or most important BLM-managed areas and why?
A: It was love at first sight in 1971 when I first came to the rugged canyon and ridge system of Beaver Creek, the largest watershed on massive Pikes Peak. In mapping the area’s wild attributes in both BLM and USFS lands, I came to understand its ecological habitats transitioning from shrublands chaparral through montane conifer forests to subalpine riparian meadows.
