My Public Lands
This is an official tumblr for the Bureau of Land Management. Follow the next generation of BLMers as they share their experiences on the public lands.
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Happy first day of spring everyone! We can’t think of a better way to celebrate than this cute photo from the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife...
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Spring is in the air!
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Here’s to the first day of spring!
This untitled illustration by cartoonist Clifford Berryman, which appeared in the...
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It’s National Wildlife Week! This year’s theme is “Branching Out for Wildlife” — celebrating trees and their importance to wildlife and people.
Raccoon in tree (French Creek Game Farm). Taken by Paul Steucke, June 1968. Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia.
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Pan-STARRS comet photographed at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on March 12th. It still may be possible to view this comet over the next...
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Franklin Roosevelt established the Jackson Hole National Monument in Wyoming 70 years ago today on March 15, 1943. It would later be combined...
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“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein
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CHIPMUNKS FIND FOOD IN CAMPING AREA OF DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK, 05/1972
From the Records of the Environmental...
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March 15th 44 BC: Caesar assassinated
On this day in 44 BC, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by several... -
The sky is full of dreams.
Great photo of the Red Rock Canyon NCA outside Las Vegas, Nevada.
Red Rocks Canyon. Nevada.
BEHIND THE ROCKS WSA (12,635 acres)
“…one of Utah’s most spectacular backcountry destinations is just a stone’s throw from Moab. The Behind the Rocks Wilderness Study Area, a compact but rugged region of fins, domes, arches and hidden gardens, lies just outside the town’s borders, literally within sight of Moab’s main street. Next time you’re in the vicinity of that bustling thoroughfare, take a minute and direct your gaze to the southwest. The view breaks on a great red Navajo sandstone wall that bounds the Moab Valley.” By Golden Webb, utahoutdoors.com
Photo by Jerry Sintz, BLM
A curious mule deer in spring velvet pauses to check in on BLM Wyoming’s Pinedale Field Office. Happy Wildlife Week!
In honor of Women’s History Month, we are sharing the stories of women who work in BLM science, technology, engineering and math-related positions (STEM) or positions that are as unique as our multiple-use mission…
Meet Wendy Rickman, Wild Horse Wrangler.
“My life long experience in ranching makes me perfectly suitable for the position of Wild Horse Wrangler at the Burns, Oregon BLM corrals. I am the first woman to ever hold this position at the corrals.
As history has proven, being the first at something is never an easy road. I’ve had to endure many preconceived notions of what women are and are not capable of doing. In the beginning, my male co-workers would not allow me to participate in many of the necessary parts of the job. One example is: I wasn’t allowed to attend satellite adoptions. They thought it would be too hard on me, and I wouldn’t be able to deal with the stress.
I didn’t get hired to sit in the office; I was hired to be a wrangler, and that was the job I intended to do. What they eventually found was that I was capable of doing everything the job required, and more. My co-workers needed to see that I was first and foremost a worker, and gender had nothing to do with ability.
I give all I have, every day, to my job. I offer a different perspective to the job, because I am a woman, not in spite of it. I am highly organized and have a philosophy of ‘do it right the first time, so you don’t have to waste time doing it again.’ I feel I am the greasy wheel of the ever changing and moving cog that is the Burns BLM Wild Horse and Burro corrals. For those who would seek employment in this particular field, there is just one word of advice; have thick skin and know when to put your foot down and stand up for yourself. Your co-workers won’t recognize you by anything other than gender, if you don’t show them what you are capable of.”
It’s National Wildlife Week!
NRCS’ Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative (MBHI) program works with farmers, ranchers and other landowners to manage portions of their land to enhance habitat for migrating birds. MBHI projects benefit wildlife, landowners, and the environment for years to come. Projects provide food and critical habitat for bird populations; much-needed water during drought; support for local economies by attracting hunters and bird watchers; and new opportunities to improve wildlife management; Batchelor, La.
Photo: David Pollingue.
The 75 million-year-old fossil-rich Cretaceous age rock layers of the BLM’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah have solved another long standing debate in the science of Paleontology: did crocodilians eat their distant cousins the dinosaurs?
The photo - from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology - shows the bite marks characteristic of alligators and crocodiles cover the bones of two small plant eating dinosaurs.
Read about the findings and watch a video interview with Clint Boyd, Assistant Professor at the South Dakota School of Mines, who participated in the excavation:
http://www.sdsmt.edu/News/Mines-research-leads-to-dinosaur-breed-discovery/ .
The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, is truly a spectacular sight to behold. Your public lands across the United States offer unparalleled opportunities to gaze up into the heavens, and that’s certainly true in Alaska.
According to the Alaska Public Lands Information Center:
“The Northern Lights certainly can seem a bit alien at times, and many stories assign them some sort of mystical origin. In actuality, they begin at the sun. What one is seeing while watching the beautiful green, red, or blue lights is charged particles (typically electrons, but occasionally protons as well) colliding with the gases in our atmosphere. The resulting aurora’s color depends on which gas the particles collide with. Blue aurora results from a collision with molecular nitrogen, Green with molecular oxygen, and Red comes from a collision with atomic oxygen, which only exists very high in our atmosphere. These charged particles are shed by the sun during sun spot activity, which means Aurora frequencies are vastly increased whenever there is high sunspot activity.”
While the photos are undoubtedly spectacular, nothing beats viewing the northern lights in person. For information on experiencing all the Dalton Highway has to offer, visit http://on.doi.gov/GYeaXI .
Photo 1 by David Bachrach. All other photos by Karen Deatherage.
National Wildlife Week continues…
Check out this Western Banded Gecko that calls the Imperial Sand Dunes home. http://www.facebook.com/BLMImperialSandDunes
Have you been to the Gap? No, not the clothing store, the Parowan Gap!
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Parowan Gap, managed by the Cedar City Field Office of the Color Country District, Utah, is a site of great significance. It is believed to house one of the most concentrated collections of petroglyphs in the West, with over 90 panels and 1,500 figures, some possibly dating back almost 5,000 years!
There, you can find a natural rock formation in the shape of a human profile with its mouth open, known as the Overseer. Two times a year you can see the sun enter and leave its sliver of a mouth. This phenomenon occurred earlier this month, March 7-9, when the Overseer spat out the morning sun; which according to some interpretations indicates that the summer sun has come out of its winter home, and warmer weather is coming.
You can witness the Spring Equinox with the Parowan Gap Heritage Foundation as they host their annual event on March 24. Experience this interpreted site for yourself by going to the Parowan Gap, located 15 miles North of Cedar City, UT, or learn more here.
Story by Yanavey McCloskey and Iris Picat
