Landscape System Gets a Boost
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar just elevated the status of the National Landscape Conservation System within the department. In so doing, he also elevates the status of the BLM as a conservation agency.
It's a tired joke, but many have long called the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the Bureau of Livestock and Mining.
This catch-all agency within the Interior Department covered all the left-over lands, the federal domain that didn't get swept into the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service or other agencies. BLM lands were often characterized by overuse or actual abuse, and there is precious little conservation vision in the agency's mandate.
During the Clinton years, a new National Landscape Conservation (NLC) System was created. Initially an administrative designation created by President Bill Clinton and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, this broad assembly of 27 million acres in the NLC System was given legislative permanence by President Barack Obama when he signed the multifaceted omnibus lands bill in March 2009. This bill also protected the Owyhee Canyonlands as wilderness.
The new order signed yesterday (Nov 15) by Salazar does two things. First, it makes clear that the NLCS is a priority of that BLM, and that protection of the values "for which they were designated" is the priority of the agency and science should drive decisions. Biological diversity, resilience to climate change, and connectivity are management drivers.
While those are great priorities, there is a second element to this new development. It further defines and elevates the BLM's role as a true conservation agency and creates even more distance from the old line about bureau of livestock and mining. More must be done on this score, but progress that we should cheer on is definitely being made by this administration.
