Social Sciences

Through the 1960s, the BLM could meet its public mandate by focusing on the skillful stewardship of lands and resources for commodity values. Today the BLM is challenged to an unprecedented degree to integrate natural resource management objectives with social values and constraints. The BLM faces several changes in the political and social context of its work, including a wider set of social values relevant to public lands management, changing western social and economic conditions, demand for a more collaborative style of management, and increased public concern over BLM’s socio-economic work.

Social science disciplines include anthropology, cultural geography, sociology, and economics. The BLM is required by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act to integrate “physical, biological, economic and other sciences” into its land use planning. Additionally, the National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to “insure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences…in planning and decision making.” Expertise in these fields is relevant to many of BLM’s management activities, including implementing projects; preparing resource management plans; managing recreation; managing fire risk; supporting state, local, and tribal governments’ community development objectives; identifying and mitigating environmental justice concerns, supporting effective public participation strategies; integrating BLM actions into sustainable development frameworks; assessing regional and national trends affecting the BLM; and monitoring the human consequences of agency activities.

Useful Social Science Documents

• BLM Social Science Staff Contact Information and Expertise
• BLM Land Use Planning Handbook Appendix D. Appendix D (Social Science Considerations in Land Use Planning Decisions) provides guidance on integrating social science information into the planning process
• IM 2006-112 – Social Science Contractor Qualifications. This Instruction Memorandum identifies minimum qualifications for contractors preparing socio-economic assessments for EISs, including those associated with RMPs.
• Checklist for Socio-Economic Analysis in Resource Management Plans. Field office staff responsible for directing the socio-economic aspects of a plan can use this checklist to supplement the information in Appendix D and to define an appropriate scope of work.
• Using EPS in Land Use Planning. This guide reviews how Economic Profile System database tools can be used to quickly and easily gather accurate data and present it in a manner readily understood by non-social scientists and how to interpret information to understand significant demographic and economic changes that affect public lands management.