National Parks, BLM, and other Federal Lands pt.2

Map of U.S. public lands: Bureau of Land Management, Forest Servicd, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Parks Service.

National Atlas of the United States has a nice online interactive atlas that can be used, among other searches, for viewing maps of federal, or as i prefer to call it public, lands in the U. S..

"Lands owned or administered by the Federal government."

In the map key you will find that BLM land is represented in yellow. This map represents blocks of land that are 640 acres or more in size.

Viewing the map is the best means of visualizing the enormous amount of federal lands existing in the country.

BLM land exists in many of the western states. It is ok to camp or boondock on most BLM land. In theory there is a 14 day camping limit for one spot then one must move at least 25 miles to another spot. In practice, in the more secluded areas, there is no one counting.


Recreation.gov

"Recreation One-Stop is one of the E-Government initiatives in the President's Management Agenda to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and customer service of the recreation programs.

The Recreation One-Stop initiative is intended to enhance customer satisfaction with recreational experiences on public lands. It will improve access to recreation-related information generated by the Federal government, streamline the systems used to manage that information, and increase the sharing of recreation-related information among government and non-government organizations. The investment will include the procurement of a new contract to integrate the separate National Park Reservation Service and National Reservation Recreation Service with the Recreation.gov website. "

BLM

"The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was established in 1946 through the consolidation of the General Land Office (created in 1812) and the U.S. Grazing Service (formed in 1934). The functions of the BLM are also addressed in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). (For more details, please see BLM and Its Predecessors ). To see a comprehensive list of legislation that BLM operates under, click here . And, to see videos describing the early history of BLM, click on "Fractured Land Patterns."

The BLM is responsible for carrying out a variety of programs for the management and conservation, of resources on 256 million surface acres, as well as 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate, These public lands make up about 13 percent of the total land surface of the United States and more than 40 percent of all land managed by the Federal government. To see how BLM is organized, click here ."

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/About_BLM.html

The BLM maintains a great online photo library that can be searched by state, keyword, or both.
It's a great way to check out different areas.

http://www.blm.gov/photos/netpub/server.np?base&site=BLM&template=simplesearch.np&catalog=catalog

Our Public Lands

"Created by National Wildlife Federation™, this website provides information on public lands issues of both national and state significance. Although issues regarding all public lands are featured, this site focuses on the western states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico where the public lands conservation tradition runs deep. "

http://www.ourpubliclands.org/

About the Public Lands Information Center

"Public Lands Interpretive Association initiated the Public Lands Information Center project in response to demand for a single source of information about recreation and land use on all public lands in a state, regardless of managing agency. We realize that when you have a destination or an activity in mind, your concern is to find out where to go, when to go, what to do, and how much it will cost. But up until now, getting those answers often meant an endless goose chase of contacting government agencies and trying to pinpoint the correct agency, department, or office.

The Public Lands Information Center was developed to cut the red tape for you. We offer all you need to know about visitor facilities, surrounding areas, appropriate maps and guides, and the rules and regulations for each area. If you need more information than you get from the site descriptions, check our bookstore, our link pages, or email our staff. If you need to contact the managing agency for additional permits or licenses, we can put you in touch with the right person, and save you time and headaches."

http://www.publiclands.org/

There are also BLM websites for each state with BlM lands. They are all available through the main BLM site.