Our Public Land Heritage: 

From the GLO to the BLM
The challenge of managing public lands started as soon as America established its independence and 

began acquiring additional lands. Initially, these public lands were used to encourage homesteading and 

westward migration, and the General Land Office (GLO) was created to support this national goal. Over 

time, however, values and attitudes regarding public lands shifted. Many significant laws and events led 

to the establishment of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and laid the foundation for its mission 

to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of 

present and future generations.

www.blm.gov/history

1776 – Declaration of Independence Signed

John Trumbull’s painting, Declaration of Independence

1778 - Second Continental Congress begins persuading states to cede land to create the public domain.

1785 - Land Ordinance allows settlement of public domain lands and establishes the government’s 

rectangular survey system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWlxHoGmBL0

(Clip from the BLM YouTube Video: Eastern States - Guardians of the Past, Stewards for the Future) 

Length – 0:51 http://www.youtube.com/user/BLMNational

1789 - U.S. Constitution gives Congress the “Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and 

Regulations respecting The Territory and other Property belonging to the United States.”
1790 - First Federal Census is conducted. Population of colonies totaled about four million.

1803 - Ohio becomes the first state created from the public domain.

1804-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition. 

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

(Signature) - On July 25th, 1806, while on his return trip to St. Louis, 

William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, carved his name and 

the date on the side of a sandstone pillar along the Yellowstone River. 

This pillar, known as Pompeys Pillar, is the only remaining on-site 

physical evidence of the entire Lewis and Clark expedition. Today, 

Pompeys Pillar is a National Monument, managed by the BLM’s Billings 

Field Office.
1812 - General Land Office is established within the Treasury Department to oversee disposition of 

ceded and acquired lands.

As the successor agency to the original GLO, the Bureau of Land 

Management maintains more than nine million historic land 

documents:

survey plats and field notes

homestead patents

military warrants

railroad grants

Many of these records can be found at: www.glorecords.blm.gov

Life of a surveyor - The life of a surveyor was hard. Many oral and written accounts by surveyors tell the 

story of discovery, hardship, excitement, misery and financial loss. One 1852 field note record of an 

Iowa survey reads, "one of my men was accidently shot yesterday and died almost instantly." The field 

notes continue with bearings and distances to the grave of deceased surveyor Ivy Johnson. Watch this 

video to learn more about surveying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEYQaLEW3xk

(Video) Fractured Land Patterns - Surveying the Land

Length – 5:18

More BLM videos at: http://www.youtube.com/user/BLMNational

Early Homestead
1824 - Office of Indian Affairs is established in the Department of War and is later transferred to the 

Department of the Interior.

1837 - On its 25th anniversary, the General Land Office has 65 district land offices.

1843 - “Great Migration” on the Oregon Trail begins.

Wagon Train

1844 - First geological surveys of public lands are initiated by the General Land Office in Michigan.

1849 - Department of the Interior is established and the General Land Office is transferred to the new 

department.

1850 - First railroad land grants are made in Illinois, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Workers joining the tracks for the first transcontinental railroad, May 10th, 1869.

1860 - First Pony Express rider leaves St. Joseph, Missouri.
1862 - Homestead Act entitles settlers to 160 acres of public land after they reside on and cultivate the 

land for 5 years.

Homestead Act 

1. The first homestead claims came on January 1, 1863. Daniel Freeman and 417 others filed claims 

the first day.

On January 1, 1863, Daniel Freeman, a Union Army scout, was 

scheduled to leave Gage County, Nebraska Territory, to report for 

duty in St. Louis. At a New Year's Eve party the night before, 

Freeman met some local Land Office officials and convinced a 

clerk to open the office shortly after midnight in order to file a land claim. In doing 

so, Freeman became one of the first to take advantage of the opportunities 

provided by the Homestead Act, a law signed by President Abraham Lincoln on 

May 20, 1862. 

Freeman's homestead claim, proof of improvements and patent are used as 

examples.

Any U.S. citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. 

Government could file an application and lay claim to 160 acres of surveyed 

Government land.

2. For the next 5 years, the homesteaders had to live on the land and 

improve it by building a 12-by-14 dwelling and growing crops.

Physical conditions on the frontier presented great challenges. Wind, 

blizzards and plagues of insects threatened crops. Open plains meant 

few trees for building, forcing many to build homes out of sod.
Some land speculators took advantage of a legislative loophole caused when those drafting the law's 

language failed to specify whether the 12-by-14 dwelling was to be built in feet or inches. Others hired 

phony claimants or bought abandoned land.

3. After 5 years, the homesteader could file for his patent (or deed of title) by submitting proof of 

residency and the required improvements to a local land office.

By 1934, over 1.6 million homestead applications were processed and more than 270 million acres—10 

percent of all U.S. lands—passed into the hands of individuals.

1862 - Transcontinental Railroad Act gives railroad companies rights-of-way and alternate sections of 

public domain lands along both sides of their railroads.

1869 - First transcontinental railroad is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah.
Land Acquisitions of the United States

1783 - Lands south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River are ceded to the United States.

1803 - Louisiana Purchase nearly doubles the size of the United States.
1819 - Spanish cession of Florida and boundary adjustments west of the Mississippi River add more than 

46 million acres to the public domain.

1845 - Republic of Texas is annexed by the United States.

1846 - Oregon compromise gives the United States claim to part of the Pacific Northwest.
1848 - Mexico cedes California and vast areas of the inland West to the United States.

1853 - Gadsden Purchase adds almost 19 million acres of public lands in southern Arizona and New 

Mexico.
1867 - United States purchases Alaska, adding 375 million acres to the public domain.

The original check used to purchase Alaska. 

The $7.2 million check paid for 586,412 square 

miles. 

Alaska in 1895 (Rand McNally). The boundary of southeastern Alaska shown is that claimed by the 

United States prior to the conclusion of the Alaska boundary dispute.

Rock art in Colorado Canyon

1872 - General Mining Law identifies mineral lands as a distinct class of public lands subject to 

exploration, occupation, and purchase under stipulated conditions.
1872 - Establishment of Yellowstone National Park marks a shift from disposition to conservation and 

protection of federal lands.

1877 - Desert Land Act authorizes the disposition of 640-acre tracts of public lands to homesteaders 

upon proof of reclamation of the lands by irrigation.

Travel across the desert in California

1878 - Timber and Stone Act authorizes the negotiated sale of lands that are valuable for either logging 

or mining and otherwise unfit for cultivation.

1889 - Oklahoma Land Rush begins the disposal of federal public domain lands in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Land Rush

1894 - Carey Act authorizes transfer of up to 1 million acres of public desert land to states for settling, 

irrigating, and cultivating purposes.

1897 - Forest Management “Organic” Act transfers fire protection responsibilities for forest reserves 

from the Department of Army to the General Land Office.

1898 - Congress extends homestead laws to Alaska.

1906 - Antiquities Act preserves and protects prehistoric, historic, and scientifically significant sites on 

public lands and creates national monuments.
Painted Hand Pueblo at Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

1911 - Weeks Act permits the federal purchase of private land to protect the headwaters of rivers and 

watersheds and calls for cooperative fire protection efforts.

1916 - Stock Raising Homestead Act authorizes homesteads of 640 acres and separates surface rights 

from subsurface (mineral) rights.

1920 - Mineral Leasing Act authorizes federal leasing of public lands for private extraction of oil, gas, 

coal, phosphate, sodium, and other minerals.

Placer mining in Colorado, 1893
BLM range grass study, 1959

1926 - Recreation and Public Purposes Act allows conveyance or lease of public lands to state and local 

governments for outdoor recreation purposes.

Evening Campfire, 1926
1934 - Taylor Grazing Act authorizes grazing districts, grazing regulation, and public rangeland 

improvements in western states (excluding Alaska) and establishes the Division of Grazing (later 

renamed the U.S. Grazing Service) within the Department of the Interior.

1937 - Oregon and California (O&C) Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act requires O&C 

Railroad lands to be managed for permanent forest production and provides for watershed protection, 

regulation of streamflow, and recreational facilities.

1939 - Alaskan Fire Control Service is created within the General Land Office to prevent and suppress 

fires on Alaska public lands.
1942 - Extensive withdrawals of public lands for military and defense use begin, with more than 13 

million acres withdrawn in 2 years.

1946 - Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is established within the Department of the Interior through 

the consolidation of the General Land Office and the U.S. Grazing Service.

BLM's first director: Fred W. Johnson

Grazing Service + General Land Office = Bureau of Land Management 

General Land Office - To handle the rapidly growing public land business, 

Congress created the GLO in 1812. The GLO handled all public land issues, 

including sales, patents and land entries. Surveyors were sent out with tools of 

the trade to record in their notebooks all mines, salt licks, salt springs, mill sites, 

water courses and the quality of the lands. This information helped purchasers 

and homesteaders make informed decisions about the lands offered.

Grazing Service - With westward expansion came increases in livestock 

grazing and deteriorating rangelands. Between 1870 and 1900, the number 

of beef cows tripled, and the number of sheep quadrupled. The sheer 

numbers of livestock, combined with drought in the early 1930s, set the 

stage for the development of a new government agency. With the passage of 

the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934, Congress established the Grazing Service to 

manage public land grazing.

Bureau of Land Management - On July 16, 1946, the GLO and the Grazing Service merged and became 

the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the Department of Interior. Eventually, the era of 

homesteaders and land sales passed. Today, the BLM manages land under the principle of “multiple 

use” to allow all citizens the opportunity to use and enjoy public lands. 

In addition, the BLM now has the National Landscape Conservation System- whose mission is to 

conserve, protect and restore nationally significant landscapes, which include many of the great 

American western landscapes. Original land surveys and settlement records, still managed by the BLM, 

help tell the rich history of the American West. 
1953 - Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to lease mineral lands 

more than 3 miles offshore; the BLM assumes responsibility for leasing through competitive sales.

Oil well operation

1954 - Recreation and Public Purposes Act amends the 1926 act and allows the sale and lease of public 

lands for other purposes in addition to recreation.

1954 - The BLM reorganizes and creates a state office system.

1955 - Multiple Surface Use Act withdraws common varieties of minerals from entry as mining claims 

and allows claim owners to use the surface for mining operation purposes only. 

1959 - Wild Horse Protection Act prohibits the roundup of wild horses by aircraft and motor vehicles.
Alpine Loop in Colorado

1960 - Public Land Administration Act allows the use of donations and cooperative agreements to 

improve and better manage public lands.

1964 - Public Land Law Review Commission is established to study public land laws and make long-term 

recommendations for public land use.

1964 - Wilderness Act protects undeveloped federal land to preserve its natural condition.

1964 - The BLM adopts a new logo.

1965 - Land and Water Conservation Fund is established for federal acquisition of outdoor recreation 

areas.

1966 - National Historic Preservation Act expands protection of prehistoric and historic properties.

1968 - Wild and Scenic Rivers and National Trails System Acts preserve sites with outstanding natural, 

cultural, scenic, historic, and recreational significance.
1968 - Johnny Horizon program promotes public awareness of BLM-administered lands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS8Mk-4c9zU

Video: Burl Ives and John –Don’t Go Near the Water – Johnny Horizon 

Length – 3:47

 Johnny Horizon Cleanup Days near petroglyphs in California, 1969

1969 - National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to assess the impacts of their actions 

on the environment.

1971 - Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act provides for settlement of aboriginal land claims of Alaskan 

Natives and Native groups; the BLM is tasked with the largest U.S. land transfer effort ever undertaken.

1971 - Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act provides for the protection and management of these 

animals on federal lands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW9V_NF-Jv0

Video: Why We Gather 

Length - 2:18

More BLM videos at: http://www.youtube.com/user/BLMNational

1973 - Endangered Species Act requires the conservation of threatened and endangered plants and 

animals and the ecosystems upon which they depend.

1975 - Energy Policy and Conservation Act addresses energy demands and establishes a strategic 

petroleum reserve.

1976 - Federal Land Policy and Management Act requires that public lands be managed for multiple

uses and sustained yield through land use planning.
Federal Land Policy Management Act FLPMA 1976

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C54pBA9DNnQ

Video clip from 1987 BLM Film Promise of the Land 

Length – 3:08

In FLPMA, Congress recognized the value of the 

remaining public lands by declaring that these lands 

would remain in public ownership (end of 

homesteading). Congress also gave the BLM the term 

"multiple use" management, defined as "management of 

the public lands and their various resource values so that 

they are utilized in the combination that will best meet 

the present and future needs of the American people."

The BLM's mission is unique among federal land 

management agencies and provides the best 

opportunity to meet the many and varied demands of 

the changing West. In 1976, few anticipated the West’s 

rapid growth and its associated demographic and 

economic changes, all of which have placed increased 

demands on the public lands. But because of the insight 

and vision of the people who crafted it, FLPMA provides 

the BLM with the tools they need to cooperatively and 

creatively manage the public lands, and in the process, 

dispel the notion that a variety of uses and resources 

cannot co-exist. 

FLPMA also specified that the United States receive fair 

market value for the use of the public lands and their 

resources unless otherwise provided for by statute, and 

that: "The public lands be managed in a manner that will 

protect the quality of scientific, scenic, historical, 

ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water 

resource, and archeological values; that, where 

appropriate, will preserve and protect certain public 

lands in their natural condition; that will provide food 

and habitat for fish and wildlife and domestic animals; 

and that will provide for outdoor recreation and human 

occupancy and use."

"The national interest will be best realized if the public 

lands and their resources are periodically and 

systematically inventoried and their present and future 

use is projected through a land use planning process 

coordinated with other Federal and State planning 

efforts"
1976 - Management of the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska is transferred to the BLM.

1977 - Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act ensures environmental safeguards for mining and 

reclamation of mined areas.

1977 - Trans Alaska Pipeline System begins transporting oil 800 miles from Alaska’s North Slope to the 

Port of Valdez.

1978 - Public Rangelands Improvement Act requires inventory, determination of trends, and 

improvement of public rangelands.

1979 - Archaeological Resources Protection Act requires permits for excavation or removal of these 

resources from federal lands and provides stringent criminal and civil penalties for violations.

1980 - Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act designates and conserves public lands in Alaska 

as national parks, wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, wilderness, and forests and provides for 

subsistence use by rural Alaska residents.

Alaska Natives filleting salmon in Alaska, 1985

1980 - Energy Security Act promotes the development of alternative energy sources such as oil shale, 

synthetic fuel, wind power, and geothermal sources.

Wind energy project in Wyoming

1980 - The BLM completes its first resource management plan, covering the California Desert 

Conservation Area, and designates its first areas of critical environmental concern in Utah and California.
1983 - Bear Trap Canyon in southwestern Montana is designated by Congress as BLM’s first wilderness 

area (it later became part of Lee Metcalf Wilderness).

Bear Trap Canyon

1983 - The BLM transfers responsibility for offshore leasing to the Minerals Management Service.

1987 - Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act establishes a new leasing system and changes 

certain operational procedures for onshore resources on federal lands.

1990 - Northern spotted owl is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, leading 

to an enjoinment of all timber sales on federal lands within its range.

1992 - Energy Policy Act increases focus on alternative energy sources, energy efficiency, and reducing 

the country’s reliance on foreign fuel sources.

1993 - Presidential summit leads to the development of the Northwest Forest Plan to address human 

and environmental needs in areas within the northern spotted owl region.

1994 - BLM Summit, the first ever gathering of all BLM managers, resulted in the development of a new 

strategic vision for the BLM.
1994 - Rangeland Reform ’94 amends grazing regulations and establishes Resource Advisory Councils.

1996 - Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is designated by Presidential proclamation as 

BLM’s first national monument.

2000 - National Landscape Conservation System is established.

Video: The NLCS - A Geography of Hope

Length - 11:46

http://www.youtube.com/user/BLMNational

Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico

2000 - Executive Order 13175 mandates consultation and collaboration with tribal officials in developing 

federal policy that has tribal implications.

2005 - Energy Policy Act ensures energy efficiency and the production of secure, affordable, and reliable 

domestic energy.

2008 - BLM-managed lands are officially designated as the National 

System of Public Lands.

2009 - Omnibus Public Land Management Act authorizes the 26-millionacre National Landscape Conservation System and establishes permit 

requirements and penalties for unauthorized removal of paleontological 

resources from federal lands.

Femur bone fossil found 

on BLM land in Wyoming.
2011 Initiatives 

1. New Energy Frontier - The Bureau of Land Management continues its work on environmentally 

responsible development of utility-scale renewable energy projects on public lands as part of 

the Administration's efforts to diversify the Nation's energy portfolio.

2. Youth in the Great Outdoors - Looking to the future, the BLM’s youth initiatives feature a variety 

of programs that engage, educate and inspire. Focusing on youth from early childhood through 

young adulthood, BLM youth programs build on the spark of childhood wonder about the 

natural world, sustain interest through hands-on education and volunteer experiences during 

the school-age years, and develop into long-term engagement and stewardship, including the 

pursuit of natural resource careers.

3. Climate Change - Climate change is affecting public lands in ways that could impact on 

Americans’ quality of life. The BLM is responding with two interconnected initiatives: a proposed 

landscape approach to land management and Rapid Ecoregional Assessments, which will 

improve the agency’s understanding of public land conditions to inform future management 

decisions.

4. Cooperative Landscape Conservation - The BLM is using a landscape-scale management 

approach to better understand environmental challenges and support balanced stewardship of 

the diverse natural resources of the public lands.
Landscapes are large, connected 

geographical regions that have similar environmental characteristics, such as the Sonoran Desert 

and the Colorado Plateau. These landscapes span administrative boundaries and can encompass 

all or portions of several BLM field offices. A landscape approach examines such large areas to 

more fully recognize natural resource conditions and trends; natural and human influences; and

opportunities for resource conservation, restoration and development. The approach seeks to 

identify important ecological values and patterns of environmental change that may not be 

evident when managing smaller, local land areas.

5. America's Great Outdoors Initiative - This initiative seeks to reinvigorate our approach to 

conservation and reconnect Americans, especially young people, with the lands and waters that 

are used for farming, ranching, hunting and fishing, while families spend quality time together.

"The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative is born out of a conversation with the American people 

about what matters most to them about the places where they live, work, and play," Secretary 

of the Interior Ken Salazar said. "It’s about practical, common-sense ideas from the American 

people on how our natural, cultural, and historic resources can help us be a more competitive, 

stronger, and healthier nation. Together, we are adapting our conservation strategies to meet 

the challenges of today and empowering communities to protect and preserve our working 

lands and natural landscapes for generations to come."
Monitoring trees in Oregon

2012 - 200th anniversary of the General Land Office and the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act.

An environmental education program in Colorado

Today, the BLM benefits the national economy as well as the economies of local communities. Activities 

on BLM lands, such as energy production, mineral extraction, timber harvesting, grazing, and recreation, 

result in jobs and income from goods and services associated with public land resources. In 2010, the 

BLM’s management of public lands contributed more than $112 billion to the national economy and 

supported more than 500,000 American jobs.

www.blm.gov/history
The BLM: A Sound Investment for America

$40 billion yielded from the National System of Public Lands creating a $103 billion dollar boost to the 

American economy.

The BLM strives to balance economic benefits 

to our Nation with the conservation of precious 

natural resources.

BLM lands yielded $337 million worth of timber 

and created $814 million in timber-related 

economic activity.

BLM lands welcomed 58 million visitors.

BLM's management of activities on public lands 

supported 507,750 jobs.

Grazing introduced $310 million worth of feed 

and fiber into the market and created $540 

million worth of grazing-related economic 

activity.

Source: 

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/socioecono

mic.html