Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages almost 260 million acres of public land in the United States. This amounts to one-eighth of all U.S. land, although 99 percent of BLM land is located in the western United States. BLM lands constitute two-thirds of Nevada, one-half of Utah, and one-third of Wyoming. Although the National Park Service receives a great deal more public attention, the BLM is responsible for three times as much land area as the National Park Service. The agency was established in 1946 to manage public rangelands and public land claims. Today, the BLM manages land for multiple and sometimes competing uses, including grazing, mining, energy production, recreation, and conservation. Unlike the National ...