BLM Volunteers Come Out in Force
for National Public Lands Day 2006

Above: In Wyoming, BLM-Kemmerer NPLD volunteers constructed a new fence around the grave of a 19th-century emigrant. Below: BLM's NPLD T-Shirts were a big (and visible) hit in Gulkana, Alaska.

On Saturday, September 30, 2006, a veritable army of volunteers answered BLM’s call and set to work in a big way to enhance our public lands.  For these dedicated folks, the 13th annual celebration of National Public Lands Day (NPLD)—the nation's premier workday on behalf of our nation's public lands—offered a perfect opportunity to support America by enhancing its irreplaceable natural and cultural resources. 

As in past years, NPLD was coordinated by the non-profit, D.C.-based National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF), with participation by Federal, State, and local land management agencies; private partner groups; and local and national sponsors, including the Public Lands Foundation, Leave No Trace, and Toyota USA.

In 2006, BLM hosted extraordinary projects and educational activities at a record-breaking 109 NPLD sites from Alaska to Florida, enlisting the aid of more than 10,000 volunteers of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels.  This year, in celebration of the centennial of the Antiquities Act, almost half of BLM's NPLD projects featured at least one component that focused on heritage (archaeological, historic, or fossil) resources. In Wyoming, for example,   BLM-Kemmerer NPLD volunteers constructed a new fence around the grave of Alfred Corum, a 19th-century emigrant along this important historic trail segment. The area—known as the Sublette Cutoff—was an important route for gold-seekers and other travelers, and was a place where the Oregon and California National Historic Trails crossed.

The Antiquities Act is the basic legislation that enables BLM and other agencies to protect and preserve archaeological and historic properties on Federal lands. 

At other BLM projects around the nation, volunteers helped to improve wildlife habitat, maintain campgrounds, stabilize stream channels, rebuild trails, paint, revegetate, weed, and otherwise tend thousands of acres of BLM public lands.

NPLD volunteers were thanked with commemorative t-shirts and posters, as well as Take Pride in America "fee-free coupons," vouchers entitling each of them to one free day of their choice at a fee site managed by BLM, Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

BLM is grateful to both the NPLD volunteers who turned out to help and the BLM staff who organized and oversaw this year's projects. 

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For further information:

2006 NPLD activities nationwide:  http://www.publiclandsday.org

Take Pride in America: http://www.takepride.gov

Year-round and event-related Federal volunteer opportunities: http://www.volunteer.gov/gov

BLM heritage resource activities and programs:  http://www.blm.gov/heritage/adventures