Nationally, the BLM is responsible for administering the use and development of the vareity of resources found on 245 million acres of public lands, nearly 12 million of which lie in Idaho. This sometimes involves real estate transactions involving public lands and in Idaho can also entail administration of water rights. As successor to the General Land Office (GLO), the BLM is also custodian of land status records such as master title plats and cadastral survey notes and plats.
The
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (1976) established the BLM’s multiple-use mandate to manage the public lands
“in a manner that will protect the quality of scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water resource, and archeological values; that, where appropriate, will preserve and protect certain public lands in their natural condition; that will provide food and habitat for fish and wildlife and domestic animals; and that will provide for outdoor recreation and human occupancy and use …”.
BLM realty specialists coordinate with
planning and
resource specialists to authorize uses of public lands that preserve the health and productivity of public lands in the present and do not impair their use and enjoyment by present and future generations.
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