BLM's History

In 1812, Congress established the General Land Office to administer the public domain. The passage of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934, which established the U.S. Grazing Service, provided active range management on public lands. In 1946, the Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 2 merged the Grazing Service, along with the General Land Office to create the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior.

BLM's Mission

The BLM is responsible for managing the nation's public lands and resources in a combination of ways, which best serves the needs of the American people. The BLM balances recreational, commercial, scientific and cultural interests and it strives for long-term protection of renewable and nonrenewable resources, including range, timber, minerals, recreation, watershed, fish and wildlife, wilderness and natural, scenic, scientific and cultural values. It is the mission of the BLM to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generation.

BLM in Arizona

BLM Arizona administers 12.2 million surface acres of public lands, along with another 17.5 million subsurface acres within the state. Field Offices throughout the state provide on-the-ground field management: Arizona Strip, Hassayampa, Kingman, Lake Havasu, Lower Sonoran, Safford, Tucson and Yuma. Arizona BLM management, coordination and direction come from the Arizona State Office, which is guided by State Director Elaine Zielinski.

The Challenge

The American West is rapidly changing. An increase in urban population is placing new demands on our natural resources. Nowhere is this better understood than in Arizona, where Phoenix has become one of the nation's fastest growing cities. These demands, combined with a growing public concern over the health of the environment, challenge Arizona BLM.

The Vision

The BLM provides for a wide variety of users without compromising the long-term health and diversity of the land and without sacrificing natural, cultural and historical resource values. We are committed to using the best scientific information to make decisions, in collaboration with other agencies, states, tribal governments and the public. We work to understand the needs of rural and urban publics, and we are committed to recovering a fair return for the use of publicly owned resources for the American taxpayers.