Visual Resource Management 

San Juan Islands National Monument RMP 

The San Juan Islands offer a stunning visual display of a natural setting complemented by the surrounding 

Visual Resource Management and the Planning Process 

Salish Sea. Likewise, the San Juan Islands National Monument, with its extremely limited development of 

shoreline areas, provides visitors by both land and sea a visual experience found nowhere else in the world. 

Through the planning process, the BLM will determine how best to manage visual resources within the National 

Monument over the next 15 to 20 years. This will include exploring different management approaches that could 

respond to the types of planning issues described below. We want your help in expanding and/or refining these 

issues. (More information on reverse side.) 

 

Preliminary Planning Issues 

•	How will the BLM utilize visual resource management to protect the objects and

values identified in the proclamation? 

•	How will the BLM otherwise manage visual resources within the monument?”

What is THE San Juan Islands National Monument RMP? 

The Bureau of Land Management is developing a Resource Management Plan (RMP) 

for the San Juan Islands National Monument which will guide the management of these 

spectacular lands in a manner that ensures the protection of their remarkable cultural, 

historic, and ecological values for the benefit of generations of Americans to come. 

news & updates 

Scan our QR Code or visit us at: 

www.blm.gov/SanJuanIslandsNM/RMP 

Or send us an email to: 

blm_or_sanjuanislandsnm@blm.gov 

San Juan Islands National Monument 

BLM, Lopez Island Office

P.O. Box 3 

Lopez, WA 98261

mdechade@blm.gov 

Contact us 
 

 

 

Visual Resource Management and the San Juan Islands 

As noted on the reverse, the San Juan Islands National Monument is home to extraordinary 

scenic values. A Visual Resource Inventory (VRI) was completed as a component of 

Resource Management Planning for the Eastern Washington and San Juan Islands in the fall 

of 2010. The BLM locally contracted out the VRI. This required field-level participation as 

the selected contractor proceeded through the inventory process. This effort established the 

VRI classification for the BLM lands in the San Juan Archipelago. 

How Does the Proclamation Address this Resource or Use? 

The proclamation does not directly address visual resources. It is likely, however, that 

management that protects and restores the values identified in the proclamation will often 

be compatible with a high level of protection of visual resources within the monument. In 

some cases, decisions made to enhance or restore the monument’s objects and values may 

have short-term impacts on visual resources. 

How Does this Resource or Use Fit Into the Planning Process? 

Through the planning effort, the BLM will designate Visual Resource Management (VRM) 

classes for lands within the monument. These VRM classes define the extent to which 

visual resources may be modified by management actions. In setting these classes, the BLM 

considers the area’s visual values and how they might be affected by other management 

priorities and desired outcomes. These VRM Classes establish the following management 

objectives: 

• Class I Objective:		 To preserve the existing character of the landscape. The level of 

change to the characteristic landscape should be very low and must not attract attention. 

• Class II Objective: To retain the existing character of the landscape. The level of change 

to the characteristic landscape should be low. 

• Class III Objective: To partially retain the existing character of the landscape. The level 

of change to the characteristic landscape should be moderate. 

• Class IV Objective: To provide for management activities that may involve major 

modification of the existing character of the landscape. The level of change to the 

characteristic landscape can be high.