The Effect of Moral and Threat Appeals on Reducing Depreciative Behavior at Rock Imagery Sites

State of Wyoming v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior Confused Agency Overlap with Preclusion: BLM Had Authority to Promulgate the Fracking Rule for Public Lands, Not Tribal Lands

Lands with Wilderness Characteristics, Resource Management Plan Contraints and Land Exchanges: Cross-Jurisdictional Management and Impacts on Unconventional Fuel Development in Utah's Uinta Basin

This chapter deals with some thoughts on what might come next as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) responds to the challenge of managing archaeological resources across all the gold on the map. The Bureau's archaeologists, working hard to meet the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and National Environmental Policy (NEPA) workload, have spent decades grinding out thousands of Class III inventories and feeding site forms and reports to State Historic Preservation Offices across the West. The various specialists added to satisfy the federal laws of the 1960s and 1970s are BLM's NHPA, NEPA and Federal Land Policy and Management Act babies (FLPMA). The BLM's multiple-use mission was written into law with the FLPMA of 1976. FLPMA is BLM's governing act, and it calls for the Bureau to retain the public domain, and to manage it for the sustained use as well as conservation of natural and cultural resources.

: Prehistoric and historic cultural resource properties are protected by various historic preservation laws and regulations. Among the various impacts that cause damage or loss of these valuable resources are several form of depreciative behaviors and vandalism. One type of mitigation of such impacts involves the use of signs to communicate both rules (and associated penalties for those who disregard them) and information concerning the importance of protecting and preserving the resources. Considerable debate has occurred among- cultural resource specialists and managers regarding the overall value of protective signs and the kind of information conveyed in sign messages. Little in the way of written guidelines for developing and evaluating effective sign programs exists. This report examines the protective role that signs have played in past and ongoing resource protection programs. Following summary discussions of literature on depreciative behavior and signs and their messages, the results of a nationwide, interagency survey are presented. This survey incorporates data on opinions about the relative effectiveness of different types of signs and previous signing efforts. The information extracted from the literature reviews and the questionnaires is utilized to create guidelines for effective cultural resource sign programs. Cultural resources, Signs, Site protection, Depreciative behavior, Site preservation, Vandalism.

This article examines the organizational reputation of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) using Daniel Carpenter’s reputation and power theory as a theoretical and methodological base. Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) is utilized to guide and organize case selection, as it is the legal mandate behind BLM authority and represents the fullest extent of the agency’s activities. The findings of this case study indicate that the BLM has a negative reputation in all but the legal-procedural dimension. Three implications are identified: (a) FLPMA serves only to define the procedural-legal aspect of public planning process, (b) the inability of FLPMA to define a purpose to public lands management has its root in the large scope of activity required of the BLM by FLPMA, and (c) finally, retention has placed the BLM and the federal government in a precarious position of an owner rather than custodian of the public lands.

Lands with Wilderness Characteristics, Resource Management Plan Constraints, and Land Exchanges: Cross-Jurisdictional Management and Impacts on Unconventional Fuel Development in Utah's Uinta Basin

ABSTRACTDespite making great strides over the past 50 years, cultural resources data management and synthesis continues to be elusive and nonstandardized, with each state and agency developing disparate systems that do not easily mesh. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has embarked on a national initiative by creating a National Cultural Resources Data Standard (NCRDS) that works to address many long-standing data organization issues. The NCRDS allows for the application of more rigorous data management principles that facilitate landscape-level planning and data modeling on BLM-administered lands across the western United States. The NCRDS and associated National Cultural Resources Information Management System (NCRIMS) contains normalized data from 11 western State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) and BLM data stores. NCRIMS is a web-based application hosted by the BLM's National Operations Center (NOC) Enterprise Geographic Information System (EGIS). NCRIMS allows for high-level planning during local, regional, and multistate project analyses and undertakings, facilitating consideration of cultural heritage values early in the planning process versus late stages as has been traditional. This allows the BLM to more proactively, effectively, and efficiently answer data calls and inform agency decision-makers on possible impacts to cultural heritage resources by proposed or ongoing agency actions.

Resource degradation due to depreciative behaviors continues to be of concern for park and protected area managers and many of the visitors that recreate in these pristine areas. Land managers must maintain a delicate balance between use and preservation amidst increasing visitation, particularly in popular frontcountry areas. Visitor education has become a prominent and, often successful, technique used to curb depreciative behaviors (Hammit & Cole, 1998; Hendee & Dawson, 2002; Lucas, 1983; Manning, 1999, 2003, 2007; Marion & Reid, 2001). In most protected areas, education concerning Leave No Trace (LNT) practices is the most prevalent form of minimum-impact messaging applied to encourage correct behavior and discourage depreciative behavior (Harmon, 1997; Marion & Reid, 2001; Vagias, 2009). Despite improved efficacy and practice concerning LNT, depreciative behaviors causing resource impacts still occur. Theory suggests that attitudes lead to specific behaviors (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Manfredo, 1992; Ham & Krumpe, 1996; Vagias, 2009), and by gaining deeper understanding about specific attitudes, we can discover why visitors of protected areas maintain particular beliefs, norms, and ultimately, behaviors. Therefore, this study evaluated frontcountry-day-user attitudes pertaining to LNT minimum impact behaviors. Results provide insight concerning visitor attitudes and the level of knowledge respondents had about LNT practices. These findings offer greater understanding concerning those LNT Principles that may be confusing or misinterpreted by visitors, thus enabling land managers and outdoor recreation educators to enhance educational strategies.

A range of depreciative behaviors, such as vandalism, theft, and other rule violations, occurs in recreation settings. Managers and users have expressed concern about the occurrence of these problems and their impacts on the natural environment, public and private property, and the recreationists’ enjoyment of the area (Driessen, 1978; U.S. Department of the Interior, 1978; Downing and Moutsinas, 1978; Alfano and Magill, 1976; Clark et al., 1971b). Some recent estimates indicate the costly impact of some of these problems on agency budgets. The USDA Forest Service, for example, reports that vandalism and littering in the National Forests cost tax-payers over $7 million in 1974 (USDA Forest Service, 1975). The Bureau of Land Management, with fewer and more widely dispersed facilities, reports that vandalism costs $250,000 per year (Alfano and Magill, 1976). The Seattle, Washington, Parks and Recreation Department estimated that vandalism cost $236,000 during 1976 (U.S. Department of the Interior, 1977). The problems of vandalism and other violations of rules permeates the entire recreation opportunity spectrum from urban parks to Wilderness Areas (Clark, et al., 1971b; Boston Parks and Recreation Commission, 1978; Hendee et al., 1978; Shafer and Lucas, 1978).

A range of depreciative behaviors, such as vandalism, theft, and other rule violations, occurs in recreation settings. Managers and users have expressed concern about the occurrence of these problems and their impacts on the natural environment, public and private property, and the recreationists’ enjoyment of the area (Driessen, 1978; U.S. Department of the Interior, 1978; Downing and Moutsinas, 1978; Alfano and Magill, 1976; Clark et al., 1971b). Some recent estimates indicate the costly impact of some of these problems on agency budgets. The USDA Forest Service, for example, reports that vandalism and littering in the National Forests cost tax-payers over $7 million in 1974 (USDA Forest Service, 1975). The Bureau of Land Management, with fewer and more widely dispersed facilities, reports that vandalism costs $250,000 per year (Alfano and Magill, 1976). The Seattle, Washington, Parks and Recreation Department estimated that vandalism cost $236,000 during 1976 (U.S. Department of the Interior, 1977). The problems of vandalism and other violations of rules permeates the entire recreation opportunity spectrum from urban parks to Wilderness Areas (Clark, et al., 1971b; Boston Parks and Recreation Commission, 1978; Hendee et al., 1978; Shafer and Lucas, 1978).

This chapter traces the developments leading to the formation of the modern Bureau of Land Management (BLM) across multiple presidencies. At the time, the Kennedy and Johnson administrations enthusiastically supported revamping how the BLM was to manage the public lands under its care. Here, the chapter introduces the Public Land Law Review Commission (PLLRC), which studies and recommends reforms in the nation's laws dealing with public lands (other than military lands and those in the national park system). It also takes a look at the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, or FLPMA, which incorporated many of the PLLRC's recommendations. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act began with a policy declaration once again reaffirming that public lands managed by the BLM “be retained in Federal ownership,” except under very narrow circumstances. It directed that BLM-managed public lands be managed on a “multiple use” and “sustained yield” basis. The 1979 “sagebrush rebellion” and subsequent developments in the West are also covered.

The protection of federally owned wild lands, including but not limited to designated wilderness areas, has long been a cardinal element of the American character. For a variety of reasons, designating wild lands for protection under the Wilderness Act has proved difficult, increasingly so in recent years. Thus, attention has focused on undesignated wild lands, that is, unroaded areas managed by the principal federal land managers, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). These areas can benefit from a kind of de facto protected status if they are Forest Service areas that have been inventoried for wilderness suitability and not released to multiple use or are wilderness study areas managed by BLM. In the last two decades, considerable controversy has surrounded roadless areas in both national forests and BLM lands because protecting their wild land characteristics may foreclose development, such as oil and gas leasing or timber harvesting. Recently, the courts have settled longstanding litigation by upholding roadless rule protection in the national forests. But BLM wild land protection has remained more unsettled, as Congress recently rejected a Wild Lands Policy adopted by the Obama Administration. Despite this political setback, current policy is to survey and consider wild lands in all BLM land plans and project approvals. This promised consideration, however, leaves the fate of such lands in the hands of local BLM officials and to the political vicissitudes of future administrations. This article traces the evolution of federal wild lands policy from its beginnings in the 1920s to the enactment of the Wilderness Act in 1964 and the Federal Land Management and Policy Act in 1976 to the longstanding dispute over the Forest Service's roadless rule to the present controversy over BLM wild lands policy. We maintain that, pending congressional decisions on wilderness status, the best way to protect wild lands in the 21st century is through administrative rule, as in the case of national forest lands. Such protection, however, will require at least acquiescence from Congress, which has not been evident in the case of BLM lands in recent years.

Relevant science is essential for effective natural resource decision making, including on public lands managed by the United States Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM), that cover 1/10th of the United States. Most of the BLM’s management decisions require analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act, and the use of science in these decisions is often challenged. Using coproduction, we assembled an interagency team of scientists and resource managers to develop a method for using public litigation to identify priority science needs for the BLM. We searched publicly available case documents finalized from 2015–2019 in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico within federal courts and the DOI Office of Hearings and Appeals, and identified 108 case documents that involved challenges to the BLM’s use of science. We retained 48 case documents that contained at least one challenge about the BLM’s use of science for a specific resource. We categorized all challenges in each case document according to the proposed action, affected resource, type of science challenged (data about resources, science relevant to potential impacts, methods for analyzing potential impacts, and mitigation actions), and specific nature of the challenge (e.g., challenging direct effects analysis). We identified priority science needs based on the frequency of challenges, the number of states where similar challenges occurred, whether the BLM lost the challenge, and whether the case was remanded. Top needs related to oil and gas development actions and included science about effects on air quality and climate, water, and socioeconomics; data for air quality and climate; and methods for analyzing potential impacts to cultural resources and air quality and climate. The BLM can use this information to prioritize actions (e.g., funding new research or science syntheses) to strengthen its science foundation for decision-making.

Although natural resource managers are concerned about climate change, many are unable to adequately incorporate climate change science into their adaptation strategies or management plans, and are not always aware of or do not always employ the most current scientific knowledge. One of the most prominent natural resource management agencies in the United States is the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is tasked with managing over 248 million acres (>1 million km2) of public lands for multiple, often conflicting, uses. Climate change will affect the sustainability of many of these land uses and could further increase conflicts between them. As such, the purpose of our study was to determine the extent to which climate change will affect public land uses, and whether the BLM is managing for such predicted effects. To do so, we first conducted a systematic review of peer‐reviewed literature that discussed potential impacts of climate change on the multiple land uses the BLM manages in the Intermountain West, USA, and then expanded these results with a synthesis of projected vegetation changes. Finally, we conducted a content analysis of BLM Resource Management Plans in order to determine how climate change is explicitly addressed by BLM managers, and whether such plans reflect changes predicted by the scientific literature. We found that active resource use generally threatens intrinsic values such as conservation and ecosystem services on BLM land, and climate change is expected to exacerbate these threats in numerous ways. Additionally, our synthesis of vegetation modeling suggests substantial changes in vegetation due to climate change. However, BLM plans rarely referred to climate change explicitly and did not reflect the results of the literature review or vegetation model synthesis. Our results suggest there is a disconnect between management of BLM lands and the best available science on climate change. We recommend that the BLM actively integrates such research into on‐the‐ground management plans and activities, and that researchers studying the effects of climate change make a more robust effort to understand the practices and policies of public land management in order to effectively communicate the management significance of their findings.

Dixie Meadows, Nevada, is a system of geothermal springs and seeps that feed a complex of marshes and wetland meadows that are located within lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Department of Defense (DOD). A previous U.S. Geological Survey report documented variability in satellite imagery-based land cover classifications for seven wetland complexes at near monthly time intervals between October 2015 and January 2022. This report presents additional data, extending analysis to November 2023. Land cover classifications between October 2015 and November 2023 demonstrated an association between vegetation cover characteristics and surface moisture, with Class 1 having dry, bare soil or sparse upland vegetation, Class 2 having moist, bare soil or sparse to small vegetation, Class 3 having dense green vegetation with potentially saturated soil conditions, Class 4 having a mix of shallow surface water, saturated soil, and dense green vegetation, and Class 5 having open surface water. Most of the wetland complexes occur close to spring outflows primarily within land managed by the DOD, though portions are also within BLM lands. The intervening and surrounding landscape outside of the wetland complexes assessed in this study are managed by the BLM. As a result, Class 1 land covers had the largest areal coverage for BLM managed lands. Classes 2 and 3 land covers were primarily mapped inside the wetland complexes and thus had the largest area coverage within DOD managed lands. Class 4 was almost exclusively mapped within the wetland complexes and thus was largely contained within DOD managed lands. Class 5 (open water) was exclusively mapped in and adjacent to a single wetland complex with catchment ponds on land managed by the BLM. The distribution of these land cover classes over the study period was seasonally and annually variable. Land cover areas of Classes 1 and 2 were larger during the spring months. Conversely, land cover areas of Classes 3 and 4 tended to be greatest during the summer or fall. These patterns might be influenced by differences in seasonal water sources and phenology.