Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA)

• THE LAW: US federal law governing how the Bureau of Land Management manages public lands
• DATE: Enacted on October 21, 1976
• The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 is the guiding law for the development, enhancement, and protection of designated public lands in the United States. The act mandates that the Bureau of Land Management administer these lands in a sustainable way to ensure their use for generations to come.

In 1976, as a result of years of neglect of public lands that allowed the proliferation of numerous problems, such as vandalism and destruction of natural resources, lack of sanitation facilities, littering, and overuse, the US Congress enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). For the first time, a law provided jurisdiction for the management of public lands under one federal government agency, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which operates within the Department of the Interior. Before the passage of FLPMA in 1976, the BLM was managing public lands under a number of different laws; the new legislation gave the BLM a unified way of managing public lands, which are defined as lands that are owned by the federal government, excluding lands that are controlled by Indigenous American nations or set aside for national forests, national parks, and military use.

FLPMA repealed many obsolete laws related to the management of public lands and gave the BLM new tools for administering such lands. One important purpose of the law is to enable the federal government to retain ownership of public lands while allowing some exchanges of lands and even sales in specific cases. The act’s policy declarations specify, among other things, that public lands and their resources must be inventoried periodically and systematically; that all lands that have not previously been designated for any specific uses must be reviewed; that the lands shall be managed on a multiple-use basis as guided by public land-use planning; that they shall be managed in such a way as to protect the quality of their scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, and archaeological values; and that they shall be managed in a manner that recognizes the nation’s need for domestic sources of food, fiber, timbers, and minerals.

FLPMA also states that the federal government is to receive fair market value for the use of public lands and their resources, and that it shall provide payments to compensate state and local governments for any burdens created as a result of the immunity of federal lands from state and local taxation. The act includes provisions covering the disposal of public lands, the acquisition of nonfederal lands, and exchanges of public and private lands; it also addresses regulations concerning the protection of public land areas that have critical environmental concerns.

Public lands in the United States managed by the Bureau of Land Management total approximately 99 million hectares (245 million acres), mostly in the West and Alaska. These lands represent approximately 40 percent of the federally owned land, 10 percent of the US land area, and 20 percent of the land situated between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Most of these lands are located in the states of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon. Among other uses, public lands support grazing for livestock on more than 62.7 million hectares (155 million acres) in eleven western states.

Bibliography

Allen, Leslie. Wildlands of the West: The Story of the Bureau of Land Management. National Geographic Society, 2002.

"Federal Land Management: When 'Multiple Use' and 'Sustained Yield' Diverge ." US Congress, 21 June 2023, www.congress.gov/crs-product/LSB10982. Accessed 1 Sept. 2025.

"Laws and Regulations." US Bureau of Land Management, www.blm.gov/about/laws-and-regulations. Accessed 1 Sept. 2025.

Loomis, John B. Integrated Public Lands Management: Principles and Applications to National Forests, Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and BLM Lands. 2nd ed., Columbia UP, 2002.

"National Timeline." US Bureau of Land Management, www.blm.gov/about/history/timeline. Accessed 1 Sept. 2025.

Skillen, James. The Nation’s Largest Landlord: The Bureau of Land Management in the American West. UP of Kansas, 2009.