Editing Bureau of Land Management (section)

=== Establishment and early history ===
In 1946, the [[Grazing Service]] was merged with the [[United States General Land Office]] to form the Bureau of Land Management within the [[Department of the Interior]].<ref name=varied /> It took several years for this new agency to integrate and reorganize.<ref>{{Cite book |last=James |first=Muhn |url=https://archive.org/stream/opportunitychall00muhn/opportunitychall00muhn_djvu.txt |title=Opportunity and Challenge: The Story of BLM |date=September 1988 |publisher=BLM |location=Denver |page=52 |access-date=November 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731005148/https://archive.org/stream/opportunitychall00muhn/opportunitychall00muhn_djvu.txt |archive-date=July 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the end, the Bureau of Land Management became less focused on land disposal and more focused on the long term management and preservation of the land.<ref name=varied /> The agency achieved its current form by combining offices in the western states and creating a corresponding office for lands both east of and alongside the [[Mississippi River]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=James |first=Muhn |url=https://archive.org/stream/opportunitychall00muhn/opportunitychall00muhn_djvu.txt |title=Opportunity and Challenge: The Story of BLM |date=September 1988 |publisher=BLM |location=Denver |pages=160–172 |access-date=November 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731005148/https://archive.org/stream/opportunitychall00muhn/opportunitychall00muhn_djvu.txt |archive-date=July 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> As a matter of course, the BLM's emphasis fell on activities in the western states as most of the mining, land sales, and federally owned areas are located west of the Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite book |last=James |first=Muhn |url=https://archive.org/stream/opportunitychall00muhn/opportunitychall00muhn_djvu.txt |title=Opportunity and Challenge: The Story of BLM |date=September 1988 |publisher=BLM |location=Denver |pages=104–106 |access-date=November 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731005148/https://archive.org/stream/opportunitychall00muhn/opportunitychall00muhn_djvu.txt |archive-date=July 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

BLM personnel on the ground have typically been oriented toward local interests, while bureau management in Washington are led by presidential guidance.<ref name="montana2">{{Cite thesis |last=Elliott |first=Clayton R. |title=Innovation in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management: Insights from Integrating Mule Deer Management with Oil and Gas Leasing (Masters Thesis) |date=August 2010 |publisher=[[University of Montana]] |pages=5, 51–52 |hdl=2027.42/77588|type=Thesis }}</ref> By means of the [[Federal Land Policy and Management Act]] of 1976, Congress created a more unified bureau mission and recognized the value of the remaining public lands by declaring that these lands would remain in public ownership.<ref name=gpo /> The law directed that these lands be managed with a view toward "multiple use" defined as "management of the public lands and their various resource values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/43/1702 |title=43 U.S. Code § 1702(c) |publisher=Legal Information Institute |access-date=November 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129012755/http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/43/1702 |archive-date=November 29, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration in the 1980s, Republicans have often given priority to local control and to grazing, mining and petroleum production, while Democrats have more often emphasized environmental concerns even when granting mining and drilling leases.<ref>James R. Skillen, ''The Nation's Largest Landlord'' (2009)</ref> In September 1996, then President [[Bill Clinton]] used his authority under the [[Antiquities Act]] to establish the [[Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument]] in southern Utah, the first of now 20 national monuments established on BLM lands and managed by the agency.<ref name=BLMconservation/> The establishment of Grand Staircase–Escalante foreshadowed later creation of the BLM's [[National Landscape Conservation System]] in 2000. Use of the Antiquities Act authority, to the extent it effectively scuttled a coal mine to have been operated by [[UtahAmerican Energy|Andalex Resources]], delighted recreation and conservation enthusiasts but set up larger confrontations with state and local authorities.<ref name="headwaters">{{Cite web |url=http://www.headwatersnews.org/p.021302.html |title=San Rafael Swell monument proposal could prove that Bush realizes the importance of a fair and public process |last=Mathew Barrett Gross |date=February 13, 2002 |publisher=Headwaters News, [[University of Montana]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071126105007/http://www.headwatersnews.org/p.021302.html |archive-date=November 26, 2007 |access-date=January 16, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Davidson |first=Lee |url=http://archive.deseretnews.com/archive/902865/Ortons-bill-would-erase-power-to-declare-permanent-monument.html |title=Orton's bill would erase power to declare permanent monument |date=September 27, 1996 |work=[[Deseret News]] }}{{dead link|date=November 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} </ref>