Public Lands System Essay, Research Paper
The government has control of over one-third of the nation’s land, and 398
million acres of that is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM 6).
This land hold a wide diversity of resources, from timber, and grazing lands
found on the surface to a mass of oil, natural gas, and minerals laying below
the earth. The history of these lands is hardly a dull story, because it is the
story of the taming of the "Wild West". Should the BLM though, still
be controlling these lands under the same laws that where put in affect to
establish the ?Western Frontier.? I feel that a radical reevaluation of
these laws needs to take place, in order to adapt them to the changing
demographic and technological environment of our society. The laws that are
remaining are allowing companies to hurt the land, which is against the mission
statement of the BLM. The BLM mission statement say, the Bureau is responsible
for the balanced management of the public lands and resources and their various
values so that they are considered in a combination that will best serve the
American people. Management is based upon the principles of multiple use and
sustained yield; a combination of uses that takes into account the long-term
needs of future generations for renewable and nonrenewable resources. These
resources include recreation, land, timber, minerals, watershed, fish and
wildlife, wilderness, and natural, scenic, scientific and cultural values. (BLM
7). Therefor by allowing these old laws to remain they are pulling away from
there mission statement. Throughout the 80’s the Bureau of Land Management
developed a host of programs and emphasized a number of others – outdoor
recreation, wildlife and fisheries, toxic materials management, and wetland
enhancement, to name a few – but there are still many problems that must be
addressed. Due to the increasing demand for outdoor recreation, there has been
an overcrowding in our local, state, and national park. There is the demand for
BLM to do more in outdoor recreation. Eight of the 10 states with the highest
population growth between 1970 and 1980 were states with substantial acreages of
public lands administer by the BLM. (BLM 12) The visitation to those lands has
increased nearly three-fold in the past 20 years, and there is an expected
increase of between 40 and 60 percent by the year 2000. (BLM 12) The amount of
people that visit our park system each year is having a profound effect on the
ecosystem of the park. An ecosystem can only absorb the effects of a small
number of man made facilities on it. The number of large complexes that the
public wants in their parks have effects that extend beyond there immediate
boundaries. Yellowstone Park has to dispose of nearly 7000 tons of garbage every
year. (Houston 3) The BLM needs to expand efforts to maintain facilities to
protect public investments and the health and safety of the visiting public.
Also, provide additional facilities with Federal funding and private sector
concessions to meet the growing outdoor recreation demands. This would allow
more destinations for the public that are seeking an outdoor experience, causing
the crowding to become less dense because the users would be more widely
distributed. Setting more public lands aside for parks would preserve that land
for the future, because a park on BLM lands would require a greater
on-the-ground presence, to monitor its use. A problem that is closely related to
that of outdoor recreation, is providing a suitable habitat for the large
diversity of animals that lives on the BLM’s Public Lands System. Many of these
animals are available to the hunter, trapper and fisherman; some are threatened
or endangered; most contribute to the pleasure of wildlife viewing; all
contribute to the ecological diversity of the Public Land System. (BLM 14). With
so much land under the control of the BLM, the bureau manages more wildlife
habitat than any other agency or group in the United States. The wide diversity
of lands that is under their control supports over 3,000 species of animals and
an untold number of land and invertebrate species. Public lands wildlife and
fisheries resources are important to the American Economy. For instance, during
the 1985-1986 season, over 5 million hunter use days occurred, with hunters
spending an estimated $145,000,000. As for fishing there where over 3 million
days at an estimated $55,000,000 spent by fishers. (BLM 14). Wildlife also
contributed to enjoyment of the public lands for millions of campers, hikers,
photographers and other users. These ?Nonconsuptive" users spent over 230
million hours on the public lands ands waters during the 1985-1986 season. The
money put into the system by these "Nonconsuptive" users was estimated
at around $200,000,000. Surely it can easily be seen the economic value of
wildlife, but there is also an indescribable entrinsic value that can be given
to them to. But improving habitat for wildlife improves more then just the
wildlife, it helps out the whole ecosystem. For instance wetland habitat
improvements for wildlife also improve water flow and water quality for
downstream users. Vegetative manipulation projects intended to improve big game
forage also improve livestock forage and watershed conditions. So it should be
easily seen that habit improvements for the sake of wildlife would be not only a
profitable change, but also an environmentally sound change. Another change that
needs to occur on Federal Lands is a change of the General Mining Law of 1872
which was passed while the West was still being settled. The 1872 mining law
opens most public lands for mining if prospectors find gold, silver, copper or
other valuable hardrock mineral deposits. The laws goal was to encourage the
region’s development, Congress offered public lands for the taking by
enterprising homesteader, stockmen, miners and loggers. (Arrandale 531) The
frontier closed a century ago, but the law still remains. On May 16, 1994
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt was forced by the mining law to sell
1,949 acres of federal lands in Nevada to a Canadian-based mining company. The
land that was sold held a gold supply of an estimated $10 billion. Surely the
deeply indebted United States Government would prosper from a sale of that much
gold, but by law the government was forced to sell it for $5 and acre. The
government received less then $10,000 for the deal. (Arrandale 531) In relation
to the mining law the government does not require the miners to restore mined
site once the minerals are gone, preventing wastes from polluting surrounding
lands and nearby streams. Former Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall says,
" The hardrock mining industry has traditionally been able to
?externalize? costs, as economist say, simply by abandoning its played-out
mines rater then reclaiming them." Arrandale 534) The fact that there is
500,000 abandoned mines, proves that is true. These mines are polluting 32
states because of the use of the new "heap leaching" technology that
uses cyanide solutions to extract gold from ore. The EPA is now spending $40,000
a day to control cyanide leaking form a Summitville Colo., gold mine that a
mining company abandoned. (Arrandale 534). I feel that the United States
Government needs to amend the mining law, so that it can address some of the
previously mentioned problems. I feel that companies should be allowed to remove
viable minerals but I they should have regulations placed on them. The U.S.
Supreme Court and state courts have upheld state regulations of oil and gas
operations to prevent waste. (Kusler 147) Since minerals are of a fixed supply I
feel that they should be regulated for future use. The mines that do extract a
predetermined amount of minerals, would also be required to restore the sight
back to the natural state of the land. Not only would they be required to return
the surface of the land, but also the underlying ground, so as it is not
polluted. But they would not receive this land for a mere $5 and acre, I propose
that they be charges a curtain percentage of the gold removed as rent for the
land, for as long as they mine the land. Upon incorporation of all of these
laws, which none of the current mines would be excempt from, I feel there would
be a reduction of mines. With less mines mineral supplies would be preserved,
and the price of minerals would go up, returning profit to the remaining mines,
and supporting the government. Another area of the land managed by the BLM is
rangeland. Since rangelands account for nearly 162 million acres of public land
the nation’s rangelands are a vast source of renewable resources. Among many
other values the range supports about 4 million head of livestock which is an
important element in the economic well-being of many rural communities and the
almost 20,000 operators who depend on public land grazing to support them. BLM
is principally seen by the public as manager of the public rangelands. The
approval from the public for the BLM then is mostly related to their management
of the grazing lands. Support for the BLM is basically based on the management
and conditions of the range lands that are under their control. So the BLM sets
below-market livestock grazing fees and loose federal regulations of how
ranchers mangage sheep and cattle on public lands. Ranchers now pay $1.98 per
"animal unit month"(AUM)- enough forage to feed one cow and a calf,
five sheep or a horse for a month. On the other hand privately owned ranges in
the West leased for nearly five times that amount, an average of $9.25 per AUM.
(Arrandale 534) Having fees this low give an incentive for the rancher to put
more animals out to graze on the deteriorating land. Why graze one cow on
private land, when you can graze at least four on government land. Of course
this is the classic Tragedy of the Commons. Why should the ranchers care is they
are destroying the public lands when they can move to a more productive spot
when their land is destroyed. Because of this taxpayers spend millions of
dollars subsidizing the damage of public lands. Clearly grazing does belong on
public lands, because if done correctly you are simply harvesting a natural
renewable resource. But when you allow money hungry cattle ranchers to graze as
many cattle as they please, you begin destroying the land. So I feel that there
should be an environmental assessment of the grazing lands, to determine a
sustainable AUM for the land, to insure there is no further damage sustained by
the land. Once this is determined you can charge them a fair price that is
competitive with the price of private land. This way the government could
produce more revenue for it self, while again protecting the land. These are
just a few of the changes that need to occur on the public lands. And some
simple and broad solutions to the problems. You could not even start to give all
of the issues and possible solutions for a single one of the problems that I
addressed in a paper of this length. But for an overall solution the government
needs to redefine it’s older laws, so that the government can have better
control over public lands. Included with the changing of the laws would be a
price increase for the resources that the government is basically, at the
present time, giving away. When this occurs it may help with the huge debt of
the country, and by different means then taxing the common people of the
country. This would require the rich mining companies, to actually pay for the
gold that they are removing from the ground. And with all these regulations in
place, and strict guidelines to the extent of extraction of natural resources,
the environment, and ecosystems will improve.
Arrandale, Tom. "Public Land Policy." CQ Researcher 28 (1994):
531-540. Beatley, Timothy. Ethical Land Use: Principles of Policy and Planning.
Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 1994. Houston, Douglas. "Ecosystems of Natinal
Parks." Science 172 (1971): 648-651. Kusler, Jon. Regulating Sensitive
Lands. Cambridge: Ballinger, 1980. United States. Bueau of Land Management.
Issues for the 90’s., 1989. Wondolleck, Julia. Public Lands Conflict and
Resolution: Managing National Forest Disputes. New York: Plenum, 1988.
Management of the BLM’s Public Lands System