Public Lands System Essay
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The government has control of over one-third of the nation's land, and 398
million acres of that is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM 6).
This land hold a wide diversity of resources, from timber, and grazing lands
found on the surface to a mass of oil, natural gas, and minerals laying below
the earth. The history of these lands is hardly a dull story, because it is the
story of the taming of the "Wild West". Should the BLM though, still
be controlling these lands under the same laws that where put in affect to
establish the “Western Frontier.” I feel that a radical reevaluation of
these laws needs to take place, in order to adapt them to the changing
demographic and technological environment of our society. The laws that are
remaining are allowing companies to hurt the land, which is against the mission
statement of the BLM. The BLM mission statement say, the Bureau is responsible
for the balanced management of the public lands and resources and their various
values so that they are considered in a combination that will best serve the
American people. Management is based upon the principles of multiple use and
sustained yield; a combination of uses that takes into account the long-term
needs of future generations for renewable and nonrenewable resources. These
resources include recreation, land, timber, minerals, watershed, fish and
wildlife, wilderness, and natural, scenic, scientific and cultural values. (BLM
7). Therefor by allowing these old laws to remain they are pulling away from
there mission statement. Throughout the 80's the Bureau of Land Management
developed a host of programs and emphasized a number of others - outdoor
recreation, wildlife and fisheries, toxic materials management, and wetland
enhancement, to name a few - but there are still many problems that must be
addressed. Due to the increasing demand for outdoor recreation, there has been
an overcrowding in our local, state, and national park. There is the demand for
BLM to do more in outdoor recreation. Eight of the 10 states with the highest
population growth between 1970 and 1980 were states with substantial acreages of
public lands administer by the BLM. (BLM 12) The visitation to those lands has
increased nearly three-fold in the past 20 years, and there is an expected
increase of between 40 and 60 percent by the year 2000. (BLM 12) The amount of
people that visit our park system each year is having a profound effect on the
ecosystem of the park. An ecosystem can only absorb the effects of a small
number of man made facilities on it. The number of large complexes that the
public wants in their parks have effects that extend beyond there immediate
boundaries. Yellowstone Park has to dispose of nearly 7000 tons of garbage every
year. (Houston 3) The BLM needs to expand efforts to maintain facilities to
protect public investments and the health and safety of the visiting public.
Also, provide additional facilities with Federal funding and private sector
concessions to meet the growing outdoor recreation demands. This would allow
more destinations for the public that are seeking an outdoor experience, causing
the crowding to become less dense because the users would be more widely
distributed. Setting more public lands aside for parks would preserve that land
for the future, because a park on BLM lands would require a greater
on-the-ground presence, to monitor its use. A problem that is closely related to
that of outdoor recreation, is providing a suitable habitat for the large
diversity of animals that lives on the BLM's Public Lands System. Many of these
animals are available to the hunter, trapper and fisherman; some are threatened
or endangered; most contribute to the pleasure of wildlife viewing; all
contribute to the ecological diversity of the Public Land System. (BLM 14). With
so much land under the control of the BLM, the bureau manages more wildlife
habitat than any other agency or group in the United States. The wide diversity
of lands that is under their control supports over 3,000 species of animals and
an untold number of land and invertebrate species. Public lands wildlife and
fisheries resources are important to the American Economy. For instance, during
the 1985-1986 season, over 5 million hunter use days occurred, with hunters
spending an estimated $145,000,000. As for fishing there where over 3 million
days at an estimated $55,000,000 spent by fishers. (BLM 14). Wildlife also
contributed to enjoyment of the public lands for millions of campers, hikers,
photographers and other users. These “Nonconsuptive" users spent over 230
million hours on the public lands ands waters during the 1985-1986 season. The
money put into the system by these "Nonconsuptive" users was estimated
at around $200,000,000. Surely it can easily be seen the economic value of
wildlife, but there is also an indescribable entrinsic value that can be given
to them to. But improving habitat for wildlife improves more then just the
wildlife, it helps out the whole ecosystem. For instance wetland habitat
improvements for wildlife also improve water flow and water quality for
downstream users. Vegetative manipulation projects intended to improve big game
forage also improve livestock forage and watershed conditions. So it should be
easily seen that habit improvements for the sake of wildlife would be not only a
profitable change, but also an environmentally sound change. Another change that
needs to occur on Federal Lands is a change of the General Mining Law of 1872
which was passed while the West was still being settled. The 1872 mining law
opens most public lands for mining if prospectors find gold, silver, copper or
other valuable hardrock mineral deposits. The laws goal was to encourage the
region's development, Congress offered public lands for the taking by
enterprising homesteader, stockmen, miners and loggers. (Arrandale 531) The
frontier closed a century ago, but the law still remains. On May 16, 1994
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt was forced by...
Arrandale, Tom. "Public Land Policy." CQ Researcher 28 (1994):531-540. Beatley, Timothy. Ethical Land Use: Principles of Policy and Planning.
Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 1994. Houston, Douglas. "Ecosystems of Natinal
Parks." Science 172 (1971): 648-651. Kusler, Jon. Regulating Sensitive
Lands. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1980. United States. Bueau of Land Management.
Issues for the 90's., 1989. Wondolleck, Julia. Public Lands Conflict and
Resolution: Managing National Forest Disputes. New York: Plenum, 1988.
Management of the BLM's Public Lands System
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