[DOWNLOAD] "Protecting the Best of the West: The Bureau of Land Management Must Start Taking Its Conservation Mandate Seriously." by Issues in Science and Technology " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Protecting the Best of the West: The Bureau of Land Management Must Start Taking Its Conservation Mandate Seriously.
- Author : Issues in Science and Technology
- Release Date : January 22, 2006
- Genre: Engineering,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 1342 KB
Description
Once considered the leftovers of Western settlement and land grabs, the 261 million acres of deserts, forests, river valleys, mountains, and canyons managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are now in hot demand. Pressure to open more of these lands for oil and gas drilling has never been greater. Traditional uses of BLM lands, including logging, livestock grazing, and mining, continue. At the same time, expanding cities and suburbs juxtapose populations beside BLM lands as never before, and new technologies such as all-terrain vehicles make once-remote BLM lands widely accessible. Increasingly, the distinctive Western landscapes of BLM lands are a magnet for all who prize outdoor recreation--from hikers to off-road vehicle enthusiasts, from birdwatchers to hunters. Congress, as well as past presidents and ordinary citizens, have realized (almost belatedly) that BLM lands are rich in unique characteristics that merit conservation: wildlife, clean water, cultural and historic relics, open space, awesome scenic vistas, and soul-nourishing solitude. In recognition of the need to protect the BLM lands with the greatest richness of natural and historical resources, the Clinton administration in 2000 designated 26 million acres as the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) to help keep these stellar areas "healthy, wild, and open."