Agency in Brief: Bureau of Land Management
BLM — Bureau of Land Management
What does the BLM do?
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency of the federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is responsible for administering 245 million acres of American public lands, or approximately one tenth of the landmass of the continental United States. The mission of the BLM calls for the Bureau to manage public land for multiple uses while also preserving its natural, historical, and cultural resources. It is responsible for protecting 32 million acres of specially designated National Conservation Lands and for overseeing energy development, grazing, and mining on the public lands that it manages to ensure that they take place in an effective and responsible manner.
Why does it matter for TU?
Trout Unlimited works in partnership with BLM staff in the field to preserve public lands, the rivers that flow through them and the populations of fish and wildlife that these places support. The BLM is responsible for administering public lands around some of America’s most well preserved and beautiful rivers and streams, and they share TU’s responsibility to maintain and protect these resources for future generations.
Key programs and partnerships
Fish and Wildlife Protection at the BLM: The BLM is responsible for protecting the fauna that live on its land resources, and the vast amount of territory that they are responsible for makes them the single largest manager of fish and wildlife habitat in the United States. The BLM manages their land resources in cooperation with states, tribes, other federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations. It coordinates its efforts to ensure that land and the wildlife on it is managed in a sustainable and responsible fashion.
- Utah Cutthroat Reintroduction: The BLM has worked with the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources, private stakeholders, and Trout Unlimited to protect native fish populations in Northern Utah. Among other accomplishments, the project prevented the Bear River Bonneville Cutthroat trout from ever listing as a threatened or endangered species.
- Utah Cutthroat Reintroduction: The BLM has worked with the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources, private stakeholders, and Trout Unlimited to protect native fish populations in Northern Utah. Among other accomplishments, the project prevented the Bear River Bonneville Cutthroat trout from ever listing as a threatened or endangered species.
Natural Resource Conservation at the BLM: The BLM is responsible for the protection and maintenance of its land possessions and the resources encompassed by them. It classifies its lands as rangelands, forests, or wetlands. The BLM develops strategies designed to create sustainable multiple use of these lands, protecting and conserving them while allowing sustainable economic or recreational activities to take place on them.
- Big Wood River Assessment: Trout Unlimited has partnered with the BLM and the Wood River Land Trust to perform a detailed assessment of Idaho’s Big Wood River. The study accumulated information about the health and proper functioning of the ecosystem within the river and recommended and prioritized actions to support the long term health and function of the Big Wood River system.
- Gooseberry Fish Passage and Henry’s Fork River Project: Trout Unlimited has worked with the BLM in Wyoming on numerous projects. Among them are the creation of fish ladders on Gooseberry Creek which have allowed local fish populations to reach their traditional spawning sites and the development of a permanent fish barrier on the Henry’s Fork River, which will prevent invasive aquatic species from entering the area.
