Bureau of Land Management
*United States | Posted:
Lowry Pueblo, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado.
Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation
The Bureau of Land Management manages over 260 million acres of federal land, primarily in the eleven western states and Alaska. These lands contain the largest, most diverse and scientifically important body of cultural resources managed by any federal agency. Ranging from prehistoric cliff dwellings, rock art and sacred sites of continuing significance to Native Americans, to historic mining structures and ranches, cultural resources managed by BLM represent the tangible remains of over 13,000 years of human adaptation on the North American continent. Over 278,000 cultural properties have been recorded on BLM land, a fraction of the 4 to 4.5 million estimated to exist. A variety of factors currently threaten these resources, including inadequate information about the location, condition and significance of sites, insufficient funding to identify, evaluate and protect them and activities like oil and gas development and motorized recreation. BLM also faces significant challenges in monitoring and protecting cultural resources from theft, looting, inadvertent destruction and the forces of nature.
Learn more about the National Trust's efforts to protect cultural resources managed by BLM:
Resources
Testimony of Richard Moe on the Management of OHVs on Public Lands (June 5, 2008)
National Trust President Richard Moe's written testimony on the management of off-highway vehicles by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service provided to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
The National Trust's report on the state of cultural resources management by the Bureau of Land Management.
