Horses crossing a plain near the Simpson Park Wilderness Study Area in central Nevada, managed by the Battle Mountain BLM Field OfficeSnow-covered cliffs of Snake River Canyon, Idaho, managed by the Boise District of the BLM
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States. About 75% of federal public land is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by the United States Department of Agriculture's United States Forest Service.
In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. The following examples illustrate some of the range.
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, succeeding upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt after serving as vice president. He implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, and established the Truman Doctrine and NATO.
This map shows land owned by different federal government agencies. The yellow represents the Bureau of Land Management's holdings.
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."[5] Originally BLM holdings were described as "land nobody wanted" because homesteaders had passed them by.[4] All the same, ranchers hold nearly 18,000 permits and leases for livestock grazing on 155million acres (630,000km2) of BLM public lands.[6] The agency manages 221 wilderness areas, 27 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 36million acres (150,000km2).[7] In addition the National Conservation Lands include nearly 2,400 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers,[8] and nearly 6,000 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails.[9] 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.[10][11][12]
A wilderness area is a region where the land is in a natural state; where impacts from human activities are minimal—that is, as a wilderness. It might also be called a wild or natural area. Especially in wealthier, industrialized nations, it has a specific legal meaning as well: as land where development is prohibited by law. Many nations have designated Wilderness Areas, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that is similar to a national park, but can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the President of the United States.
National Conservation Lands, formally known as the National Landscape Conservation System, is a 35-million-acre (140,000 km2) collection of lands in 873 federally recognized areas considered to be the crown jewels of the American West. These lands represent 10% of the 258 million acres (1,040,000 km2) managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM is the largest federal public land manager and is responsible for over 40% of all the federal public land in the nation. The other major federal public land managers include the US Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
History
The BLM's roots go back to the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.[13] These laws provided for the survey and settlement of the lands that the original 13 colonies ceded to the federal government after the American Revolution.[13] As additional lands were acquired by the United States from Spain, France and other countries, the United States Congress directed that they be explored, surveyed, and made available for settlement.[13] During the Revolutionary War, military bounty land was promised to soldiers who fought for the colonies.[14] After the war, the Treaty of Paris of 1783, signed by the United States, England, France, and Spain, ceded territory to the United States.[15][16] In the 1780s, other states relinquished their own claims to land in modern-day Ohio.[17] By this time, the United States needed revenue to function.[18] Land was sold so that the government would have money to survive.[18] In order to sell the land, surveys needed to be conducted. The Land Ordinance of 1785 instructed a geographer to oversee this work as undertaken by a group of surveyors.[18] The first years of surveying were completed by trial and error; once the territory of Ohio had been surveyed, a modern public land survey system had been developed.[19] In 1812, Congress established the General Land Office as part of the Department of the Treasury to oversee the disposition of these federal lands.[17] By the early 1800s, promised bounty land claims were finally fulfilled.[20]
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation, so land sales provided an important revenue stream. The Ordinance set up a survey system that eventually covered over 3/4 of the area of the continental United States.
The Northwest Ordinance enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States. It created the Northwest Territory, the first organized territory of the United States, from lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, between British North America and the Great Lakes to the north and the Ohio River to the south. The upper Mississippi River formed the territory's western boundary.
Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a country mostly located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula. Its territory also includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country (Morocco). Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are also part of Spanish territory. The country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean.
Over the years, other bounty land and homestead laws were enacted to dispose of federal land.[13][20] Several different types of patents existed.[21] These include cash entry, credit, homestead, Indian, military warrants, mineral certificates, private land claims, railroads, state selections, swamps, town sites, and town lots.[21] A system of local land offices spread throughout the territories, patenting land that was surveyed via the corresponding Office of the Surveyor General of a particular territory.[21] This pattern gradually spread across the entire United States.[19] The laws that spurred this system with the exception of the General Mining Law of 1872 and the Desert Land Act of 1877 have since been repealed or superseded.[22]
The Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory was a United States government official responsible for surveying land in the Northwest Territory in the United States late in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The position was created in the Land Act of 1796 to survey lands ceded by Indians northwest of the Ohio River and above the mouth of the Kentucky River. This act, and those that followed evolved into the Public Land Survey System.
The Desert Land Act was passed by the United States Congress on March 3, 1877, to encourage and promote the economic development of the arid and semiarid public lands of the Western states. Through the Act, individuals may apply for a desert-land entry to irrigate and reclaim the land. This act amended the Homestead Act (1862). Originally the act offered 640 acres (2.6 km2), although currently only 320 acres may be claimed.
The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 30 U.S.C. § 181 et seq. is a United States federal law that authorizes and governs leasing of public lands for developing deposits of coal, petroleum, natural gas and other hydrocarbons, in addition to phosphates, sodium, sulfur, and potassium in the United States. Previous to the act, these materials were subject to mining claims under the General Mining Act of 1872.
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements; chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed if dead plant matter decays into peat and over millions of years the heat and pressure of deep burial converts the peat into coal. Vast deposits of coal originates in former wetlands—called coal forests—that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.
Petroleum is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth's surface. It is commonly refined into various types of fuels. Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation, i.e. separation of a liquid mixture into fractions differing in boiling point by means of distillation, typically using a fractionating column.
In 1946, the Grazing Service was merged with the General Land Office to form the Bureau of Land Management within the Department of the Interior.[22] It took several years for this new agency to integrate and reorganize.[27] In the end, the Bureau of Land Management became less focused on land disposal and more focused on the long term management and preservation of the land.[22] The agency achieved its current form by combining offices in the western states and creating a corresponding office for lands both east of and alongside the Mississippi River.[28] As a matter of course, the BLM's emphasis fell on activities in the western states as most of the mining, land sales, and federally owned areas are located west of the Mississippi.[29]
The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury. Starting with the passage of the Land Ordinance of 1785, which created the Public Land Survey System, the Treasury Department had already overseen the survey of the "Northwest Territory", including what is now the state of Ohio.
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. Its source is Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and it flows generally south for 2,320 miles (3,730 km) to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km2), of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth-longest and fifteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
BLM personnel on the ground have typically been oriented toward local interests, while bureau management in Washington are led by presidential guidance.[30] By means of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, Congress created a more unified bureau mission and recognized the value of the remaining public lands by declaring that these lands would remain in public ownership.[13] The law directed that these lands be managed with a view toward "multiple use" defined as "management of the public lands and their various resource values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people."[31]
Since the Reagan years of the 1980s, Republicans have often given priority to local control and to grazing, mining and petroleum production, while Democrats have more often emphasized environmental concerns even when granting mining and drilling leases.[32] In September 1996, then President Bill Clinton used his authority under the Antiquities Act to establish the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, the first of now 20 national monuments established on BLM lands and managed by the agency.[7] The establishment of Grand Staircase-Escalante foreshadowed later creation of the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System in 2000. Use of the Antiquities Act authority, to the extent it effectively scuttled a coal mine to have been operated by Andalex Resources, delighted recreation and conservation enthusiasts but set up larger confrontations with state and local authorities.[33][34]
Under the administration of President Trump, the BLM offered millions of acres of available Federal lands for 10-year leases for commercial development, potentially in oil and gas and mining, with the stated goal of "promoting American energy security".[35] The BLM holds quarterly oil and gas lease sales.[35] According to a June 18, 2018 article in The Atlantic, under the tenure of then- United States Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke "practically gave away hundreds of thousands of acres of open land across the West, leasing it to energy companies for pennies on the dollar."[36]The Salt Lake Tribune reported that in March 2019, the price per acre for leases near the Golden Spike National Historical Park, in Utah were "$1.50 an acre for the next two years".[37] By September 11, 2018, the Department of Interior was offering 2.9 million acres to be leased to commercial operations including drilling for oil and gas and mining in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and other states where public land is not protected by a national park or monument designation.[38] The BLM's May 30, 2019 statement proposed an additional 183,668 acres on "lands managed by the Canyon Country, Color Country, Green River, and West Desert districts" that would be listed for the quarterly oil and gas lease sale on September 10, 2019.[35] In their May 2019, September lease offerings, the BLM said that they had "245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states, including Alaska" and across the United States another "700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate" is under their management. The statement also said that these "[d]iverse activities authorized on these lands generated $96 billion in sales of goods and services throughout the American economy in fiscal year 2017" while supporting over 468,000 jobs".[35]
BLM programs
Most of the public lands held by the Bureau of Land Management are located in the western states.
Grazing. The BLM manages livestock grazing on nearly 155million acres (630,000km2) million acres under the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934.[40] The agency has granted more than 18,000 permits and leases to ranchers who graze their livestock, mostly cattle and sheep, at least part of the year on BLM public lands.[40] Permits and leases generally cover a 10-year period and are renewable if the BLM determines that the terms and conditions of the expiring permit or lease are being met.[40] The federal grazing fee is adjusted annually and is calculated using a formula originally set by Congress in the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978.[40] Under this formula, the grazing fee cannot fall below $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM), nor can any fee increase or decrease exceed 25 percent of the previous year's level.[40][41] The grazing fee for 2014 was set at $1.35 per AUM, the same level as for 2013.[40] Over time there has been a gradual decrease in the amount of grazing that takes place on BLM-managed land.[40] Grazing on public lands has declined from 18.2 million AUMs in 1954 to 7.9 million AUMs in 2013.[40]
Mining. Domestic production from over 63,000 Federal "onshore" oil and gas wells on BLM lands accounts for 11 percent of the natural gas supply and five percent of the oil supply in the United States.[42] BLM has on record a total of 290,000 mining claims under the General Mining Law of 1872.[43] The BLM supports an all of the above energy approach, which includes oil and gas, coal, strategic minerals, and renewable energy resources such as wind, geothermal and solar—all of which may be developed on public lands and subject to free markets. This approach strengthens American energy security, supports job creation, and strengthens America's energy infrastructure. The BLM is also taking steps to make energy development on public lands easier by reviewing and streamlining it's business processes to serve industry and the American public.[44][45] Even under the current administration's America first and energy independence the total mining claims on lands owned by the BLM has decreased while also the amount of rejected claims has increased. too put some context on this, the BLM oversees over 3.8 million mining claims. However, approximately 89% are closed mines with just over 10% of claims still being active. Of these active claims Nevada currently has the most at 203,705. The next closest state is California with 49,259.[46][47]
Coal leases. The BLM holds the coal mineral estate to more than 570million acres (2,300,000km2) where the owner of the surface is the federal government, a state or local government, or a private entity.[48] As of 2013, the BLM had competitively granted 309 leases for coal mining to 474,252 acres (191,923ha), an increase of 13,487 acres (5,458ha) or nearly 3% increase in land subject to coal production over ten years' time.[48]
Recreation. The BLM administers 205,498 miles (330,717km) of fishable streams, 2.2million acres (8,900km2) of lakes and reservoirs, 6,600 miles (10,600km) of floatable rivers, over 500 boating access points, 69 National Back Country Byways, and 300 Watchable Wildlife sites.[49] The agency also manages 4,500 miles (7,200km) of National Scenic, National Historic and National Recreation Trails, as well as thousands of miles of multiple use trails used by motorcyclists, hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers.[49] In 2013, BLM lands received an estimated 61.7 million recreational visitors.[50] Over 99% of BLM-managed lands are open to hunting, recreational shooting opportunities, and fishing.
California Desert Conservation Area. The California Desert Conservation Area covers 25million acres (100,000km2) of land in southern California designated by Congress in 1976 by means of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.[51] BLM is charged with administering about 10million acres (40,000km2) of this fragile area with its potential for multiple uses in mind.[51]
Timberlands. The Bureau manages 55million acres (220,000km2) of forests and woodlands, including 11million acres (45,000km2) of commercial forest and 44million acres (180,000km2) of woodlands in 11 western states and Alaska.[52]53million acres (210,000km2) are productive forests and woodlands on public domain lands and 2.4million acres (9,700km2) are on O&C lands in western Oregon.[52]
Calm Before the Storm: Fatigued BLM Firefighters taking a break after a fire in Oregon in 2008
Firefighting. Well in excess of 3,000 full-time equivalent firefighting personnel work for BLM.[53] The agency fought 2,573 fires on BLM-managed lands in fiscal year 2013.[50]
Mineral rights on Indian lands. As part of its trust responsibilities, the BLM provides technical advice for minerals operations on 56million acres (230,000km2) of Indian lands.[54]
Leasing and Land Management of Split Estates. A split estate is similar to the broad form deeds used, starting in the early 1900s. It is a separation of mineral rights and surface rights on a property. The BLM manages split estates, but only in cases when the "surface rights are privately owned and the rights to the minerals are held by the Federal Government."[55]
Cadastral surveys. The BLM is the official record keeper for over 200 years' worth of cadastral survey records and plats as part of the Public Land Survey System.[56] In addition, the Bureau still completes numerous new surveys each year, mostly in Alaska, and conducts resurveys to restore obliterated or lost original surveys.[56]
Abandoned mines. BLM maintains an inventory of known abandoned mines on the lands it manages.[57] As of April 2014, the inventory contained nearly 46,000 sites and 85,000 other features.[57] Approximately 23% of the sites had either been remediated, had reclamation actions planned or underway, or did not require further action. The remaining sites require further investigation.[57] A 2008 Inspector General report alleges that BLM has for decades neglected the dangers represented by these abandoned mines.[58]
Energy corridors. Approximately 5,000 miles (8,000km) of energy corridors for pipelines and transmission lines are located on BLM-managed lands.[59]
Helium. BLM operates the National Helium Reserve near Amarillo, Texas, a program begun in 1925 during the time of the Zeppelin Wars.[60] Though the reserve had been set to be moved to private hands, it remains subject to oversight of the BLM under the provisions of the unanimously-passed Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act of 2013.[60][61]
Revenue and fees. The BLM produces significant revenue for the United States budget.[62] In 2009, public lands were expected to generate an estimated $6.2 billion in revenues, mostly from energy development.[62] Nearly 43.5% of these funds are provided directly to states and counties to support roads, schools, and other community needs.[62]
Established in 2000, the National Landscape Conservation System is overseen by the BLM.[63] The National Landscape Conservation System lands constitute just about 12% of the lands managed by the BLM.[63] Congress passed Title II of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-11) to make the system a permanent part of the public lands protection system in the United States.[63][64] By designating these areas for conservation, the law directed the BLM to ensure these places are protected for future generations, similar to national parks and wildlife refuges.[63]
Uniformed rangers enforce laws and regulations governing BLM lands and resources.[69] As part of that mission, these BLM rangers carry firearms, defensive equipment, make arrests, execute search warrants, complete reports and testify in court.[69] They seek to establish a regular and recurring presence on a vast amount of public lands, roads and recreation sites. They focus on the protection of natural and cultural resources, other BLM employees and visitors.[69] Given the many locations of BLM public lands, these rangers use canines, helicopters, snowmobiles, dirt bikes and boats to perform their duties.[69]
By contrast BLM special agents are criminal investigators who plan and conduct investigations concerning possible violations of criminal and administrative provisions of the BLM and other statutes under the United States Code.[70] Special agents are normally plain clothes officers who carry concealed firearms, and other defensive equipment, make arrests, carry out complex criminal investigations, present cases for prosecution to local United States Attorneys and prepare investigative reports.[70] Criminal investigators occasionally conduct internal and civil claim investigations.[70]
The BLM manages free-roaming horses and burros on public lands in ten western states.[71] Though they are feral, the agency is obligated to protect them under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA).[71] As the horses have few natural predators, populations have grown substantially.[71] WFRHBA as enacted provides for the removal of excess animals; the destruction of lame, old, or sick animals; the private placement or adoption of excess animals; and even the destruction of healthy animals if range management required it.[72][73] In fact, the destruction of healthy or unhealthy horses has almost never occurred.[74] Pursuant to the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978, the BLM has established 179 "herd management areas" (HMAs) covering 31.6million acres (128,000km2) acres where feral horses can be found on federal lands.[71]
In 1973, BLM began a pilot project on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range known as the Adopt-A-Horse initiative.[75] The program took advantage of provisions in the WFRHBA to allow private "qualified" individuals to "adopt" as many horses as they wanted if they could show that they could provide adequate care for the animals.[76] At the time, title to the horses remained permanently with the federal government.[73] The pilot project was so successful that BLM allowed it to go nationwide in 1976.[75] The Adopt-a-Horse program quickly became the primary method of removing excess feral horses from BLM land given the lack of other viable methods.[76] The BLM also uses limited amounts of contraceptives in the herd, in the form of PZP vaccinations; advocates say that additional use of these vaccines would help to diminish the excess number of horses currently under BLM management.[77]
Despite the early successes of the adoption program, the BLM has struggled to maintain acceptable herd levels, as without natural predators, herd sizes can double every four years.[71] As of 2014, there were more than 49,000 horses and burros on BLM-managed land, exceeding the BLM's estimated "appropriate management level" (AML) by almost 22,500.[71]
The Bureau of Land Management has implemented several programs and has developed partnerships as part of their management plan for preserving wild burros and horses in the United States. There are several herds of horses and burros roaming free on 26.9 million acres of range spread out in ten western states. It is essential to maintain a balance that keeps herd management land and animal population healthy. Some programs and partnerships include the Mustang Heritage Foundation, U.S. Border Patrol, Idaho 4H, Napa Mustang Days and Little Book Cliffs Darting Team. These partnerships help with adoption and animal population as well as education and raising awareness about wild horses and burros.[78]
In 2009, BLM opened Renewable Energy Coordination Offices in order to approve and oversee wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal projects on BLM-managed lands.[59] The offices were located in the four states where energy companies had shown the greatest interest in renewable energy development: Arizona, California, Nevada, and Wyoming.[59]
Solar energy. In 2010, BLM approved the first utility-scale solar energy projects on public land.[79] As of 2014, 70 solar energy projects covering 560,000 acres (2,300km2) had been proposed on public lands managed by BLM primarily located in Arizona, California, and Nevada.[80] To date, it has approved 29 projects that have the potential to generate 8,786 megawatts of renewable energy or enough energy to power roughly 2.6 million homes.[80] The projects range in size from a 45-megawatt photovoltaic system on 422 acres (171ha) to a 1,000-megawatt parabolic trough system on 7,025 acres (2,843ha).[80]
Wind energy. BLM manages 20.6million acres (83,000km2) of public lands with wind potential.[81] It has authorized 39 wind energy development projects with a total approved capacity of 5,557 megawatts or enough to supply the power needs of over 1.5 million homes.[82] In addition, BLM has authorized over 100 wind energy testing sites.[83]
Geothermal energy. BLM manages 59 geothermal leases in producing status, with a total capacity of 1,500 megawatts.[84] This amounts to over 40% of the geothermal energy capacity in the United States.[84]
Biomass and bioenergy. Its large portfolio of productive timberlands leaves BLM with woody biomass among its line of forest products.[85] The biomass is composed of "smaller diameter materials" and other debris that result from timber production and forest management.[85] Though the use of these materials as a renewable resource is nascent, the agency is engaged in pilot projects to increase the use of its biomass supplies in bioenergy programs.[85]
A Mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated horses, they are defined as feral horses. The original mustangs were Colonial Spanish horses, but many other breeds and types of horses contributed to the modern mustang, now resulting in varying phenotypes. Some free-roaming horses are relatively unchanged from the original Spanish stock, most strongly represented in the most isolated populations.
The Sagebrush Rebellion was a movement in the western United States during the 1970s and 1980s that sought major changes to federal land control, use, and disposal policy in thirteen western states, federal land holdings include between 20% and 85% of a state's area. Notably, supporters of this movement wanted more state and local control over these lands, if not outright transfer of them to state and local authorities and/or privatization. As much of the land in question is sagebrush steppe, supporters adopted the name "Sagebrush Rebellion."
Federal lands are lands in the United States owned by the federal government. Pursuant to the Property Clause of the United States Constitution, the Congress has the power to retain, buy, sell, and regulate federal lands, such as by limiting cattle grazing on them. These powers have been recognized in a long line of U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness areas are managed by four federal land management agencies: the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. The term "wilderness" is defined as "an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain" and "an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions." As of 2016, there are 765 designated wilderness areas, totaling 109,129,657 acres (44,163,205 ha), or about 4.5% of the area of the United States.
The United States Grazing Service was a part of the United States Department of the Interior that managed grazing lands and carried out the Taylor Grazing Act, which leased public land for grazing. It was later merged with the General Land Office to form the Bureau of Land Management.
Kleppe v. New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529 (1976), was a United States Supreme Court decision that unanimously held the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, passed in 1971 by the United States Congress to protect these animals from "capture, branding, harassment, or death", to be a constitutional exercise of congressional power. In February 1974, the New Mexico Livestock Board rounded up and sold 19 unbranded burros from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. When the BLM demanded the animals' return, the state filed suit claiming that the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was unconstitutional; claiming the federal government did not have the power to control animals in federal lands unless they were items in interstate commerce or causing damage to the public lands.
Wyoming straddles the Continental Divide, and its abrupt topographic relief includes alternating basins and mountain ranges. Major mountain ranges include the Beartooth, Gros Ventre, Teton, Wind River, Bighorn, Sierra Madre, and Medicine Bow. Internal basins and eastern plains are rolling to flat, and in the east are the Great Plains.
The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is a refuge for a historically significant herd of free-roaming mustangs, feral horses colloquially called "wild horses", located in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming in the United States. The range has an area of 39,650 acres (160.5 km2) and was established in 1968 along the Montana–Wyoming border as the first protected refuge dedicated exclusively for mustangs. It was the second feral horse refuge in the United States. About a quarter of the refuge lies within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. A group of federal agencies, led by the Bureau of Land Management, administers the range.
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA), is an Act of Congress, signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971. The act covered the management, protection and study of "unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands in the United States."
The Pryor Mountain mustang is a substrain of mustang considered to be genetically unique and one of the few strains of horses verified by DNA analysis to be descended from the original Colonial Spanish Horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. They live on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range located in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming in the United States, and are the only mustang herd remaining in Montana. They are protected by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA) and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), who has set the optimum herd number at 120 animals. Genetic studies have revealed that the herd exhibits a high degree of genetic diversity and a low degree of inbreeding, and BLM has acknowledged the genetic uniqueness of the herd. Pryor Mountain Mustangs are relatively small horses, exhibit a natural ambling gait, and domesticated Pryor Mountain mustangs are known for their strength, sure-footedness and stamina. The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is one of the most accessible areas to view feral horse herds in the United States and tourism to the area has increased in recent years.
Management of free-roaming feral and semi-feral horses, on various public or tribal lands in North America is accomplished under the authority of law, either by the government of jurisdiction or efforts of private groups. In western Canada, management is a provincial matter, with several associations and societies helping to manage wild horses in British Columbia and Alberta. In Nova Scotia and various locations in the United States, management is under the jurisdiction of various federal agencies. The largest population of free-roaming horses are found in the Western United States, where most of them are protected under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRH&BA), and their management is primarily undertaken by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), but also by the U. S. Forest Service (USFS)
The Federal Lands Jobs and Energy Security Act is a bill that would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to establish certain fees for activities related to the development of oil and gas on federal lands. A portion of those amounts along with a portion of fees from renewable energy projects on federal lands would be available to the agency, subject to appropriation, to cover the costs of activities aimed at increasing energy development on federal lands. The bill also would exempt lawsuits related to energy production on federal lands from the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). In addition, the legislation would require the BLM to offer for sale at least 25 percent of onshore federal lands nominated by firms for oil and gas leasing. It was introduced in the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. President Barack Obama threatened to veto the bill on November 19, 2013.
The 2014 Bundy standoff was an armed confrontation between supporters of cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and law enforcement following a 21-year legal dispute in which the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) obtained court orders directing Bundy to pay over $1 million in withheld grazing fees for Bundy's use of federally-owned land adjacent to Bundy's ranch in southeastern Nevada.
Grazing rights in Nevada covers a number of rangeland Federal and state laws and regulations applicable to the state of Nevada. Rangelands are distinguished from pasture lands because they grow primarily native vegetation, rather than plants established by humans. Ranchers may lease or obtain permits to use portions of this public rangeland and pay a fee based on the number and type of livestock and the period for which they are on the land.
The Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act of 2014 is a bill that would revise existing laws and policies regarding the development of oil and gas resources on the Outer Continental Shelf. The bill is intended to increase domestic energy production and lower gas prices.
↑ Black, Jeremy. British foreign policy in an age of revolutions, 1783–1793 (1994) pp 11–20
1 2 A History of the Rectangular Survey System by C. Albert White, 1983, Pub: Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management: For sale by G.P.O.
1 2 3 Vernon Carstensen, "Patterns on the American Land." Journal of Federalism, Fall 1987, Vol. 18 Issue 4, pp 31–39
1 2 White, C. Albert (1991). A history of the rectangular survey system. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
1 2 Pitt, Kenneth. "The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act: A Western Melodrama." Environmental Law. 15:503 at 528 (Spring 1985)
1 2 Glover, Kristen H. "Managing Wild Horses on Public Lands: Congressional Action and Agency Response." North Carolina Law Review. 79:1108 (May 2001).
↑ "Programs: Wild Horse and Burro | BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT." BLM.gov Home Page | BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.
↑ Friedman, Gabe (August 6, 2014). "Sun Land". The New Yorker. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
Skillen, James R. The Nation's Largest Landlord: The Bureau of Land Management in the American West (University Press of Kansas, 2009) 320 pp. excerpt and text search
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
