Background

BLM’s Resource Management Plans (RMPs) form the basis for every action and approved use on the public lands, including 258 million acres of surface lands and 700 million acres of mineral estate.  RMPs are prepared for areas of public lands, called planning areas, which tend to have similar resource characteristics.  Planning emphasizes a collaborative environment in which local, State, and Tribal governments, the public, user groups, and industry work with the BLM to identify appropriate multiple uses of the public lands.  RMPs are periodically evaluated to determine if management decisions contained within them are still current and adequate.  Where changing conditions (such as the Federal listing of a wildlife or plant species) and/or demands on the public lands have resulted in inadequate management decisions, RMPs are either revised or amended. 

Purpose

The primary method BLM uses to establish the balance between land use and resource protection is land use planning.  Established by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, planning is designed to project present and future land uses and identify management practices needed to achieve desired conditions.  Planning provides BLM with the opportunity to collaborate with other agencies, Tribes, and State and local governments, and many customers and stakeholders to develop a common vision for how the public lands should be used and protected and how various land use allocation issues should be resolved.

RMPs are used by managers and the public to accomplish the following:

• Allocate resources and determine appropriate multiple uses for the public lands;
• Develop a strategy to manage and protect resources; and
• Establish systems to monitor and evaluate status of resources and effectiveness of management practices over time.

BLM’s RMPs are developed using an interdisciplinary approach that considers competing values and uses and weighs long-term benefits to the public against short-term benefits.  Developed with extensive public involvement, RMPs are prepared in conjunction with an analysis of environmental impacts to increase public understanding of the decision-making process and disclose the anticipated consequences of plan decisions.

Resource management issues are more complex, more sensitive, and in many ways more important than ever, yet BLM’s mission essentially remains the same: to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.