A 1946 merger of the General Land Office and the Grazing Service. Its multiple-use mandate under the 1976 FLPMA statute requires weighing energy, grazing, mining, recreation, and conservation on the same acres, which keeps it in court constantly.
Open the interactive page for BLM →Created byReorganization Plan No. 3 of 1946 (merging the General Land Office, est. 1812, and the Grazing Service); organic charter is the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (P.L. 94-579)
Head appointed43 U.S.C. § 1731(a): Director appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; must have "a broad background and substantial experience in public land and natural resource management"; no fixed term (PAS)
Removal standardno statutory protection — at will
Funded underAnnual Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; receipts-based streams include grazing fees (43 U.S.C. § 1751; formula continued by E.O. 12548) and onshore mineral-leasing revenues shared with states (30 U.S.C. § 191)
Congressional oversightHouse Natural Resources · Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Inspector generalDepartment of the Interior OIG (PAS establishment IG under the Inspector General Act, 5 U.S.C. ch. 4)
Judicial reviewAdministrative appeal to the Interior Board of Land Appeals (43 C.F.R. pt. 4) then APA review in district court; failure-to-act claims limited to discrete mandatory duties per Norton v. SUWA, 542 U.S. 55 (2004)
Comment on every Resource Management Plan and major lease, which require public comment under NEPA; file a formal protest of a specific lease sale; ask your members of Congress, who set BLM's budget and the public-land laws.