TheBureau of Land Management(BLM) is an agency within theUnited States Department of the Interiorthat administers more than 247.3million acres (1,001,000km2) ofpublic landsin the United States which constitutes one-eighth of the landmass of the country.PresidentHarry S. Trumancreated the BLM in 1946 by combining two existing agencies: theGeneral Land Officeand theGrazing Service.The agency manages the federal government's nearly 700million acres (2,800,000km2) of subsurfacemineral estatelocated beneath federal, state and private lands severed from their surface rights by theHomestead Act of 1862.Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states:Alaska,Arizona,California,Colorado,Idaho,Montana,Nevada,New Mexico,Oregon,Utah,WashingtonandWyoming.
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."Originally BLM holdings were described as "land nobody wanted" because homesteaders had passed them by.All the same, ranchers hold nearly 18,000 permits and leases for livestock grazing on 155million acres (630,000km2) of BLM public lands.The agency manages 221wilderness areas, 23national monumentsand some 636 other protected areas as part of theNational Landscape Conservation Systemtotaling about 30million acres (120,000km2).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 theTreasury, the states, andNative Americangroups.
See Also
Federal land policy in Texas