The 110 th Congress is considering actions that affect the various uses and management of federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. These actions include legislation, administrative or regulatory proposals, and litigation and judicial decisions. Issue areas include access to energy resources on federal lands; development of hardrock minerals; designation of the National Landscape Conservation System; wilderness designation; management of wild horses and burros; wildfire protection; Forest Service implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); and other issues. Many of these issues have been of interest to Congress and the nation for decades. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Forest Service (FS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) manage 449 million acres of land, more than two-thirds of the land owned by the federal government and one-fifth of the total U.S. land area. The BLM manages 255.8 million acres of land, predominantly in the West. The FS administers 192.8 million acres of federal land, also concentrated in the West. The BLM and FS have similar management responsibilities for their lands, and many key issues affect both agencies' lands. Thus, merging the two agencies often is proposed. By law, BLM and FS lands are to be administered for multiple uses, although slightly different uses are specified for each agency. In practice, the land uses considered by the agencies include recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed, wildlife and fish, and conservation. BLM and FS lands also are required to be managed for sustained yield—a high level of resource outputs in perpetuity—without impairing the productivity of the lands. However, each agency also has unique emphases and functions. For instance, most rangelands are managed by the BLM, and the BLM administers mineral development on all federal lands. Most federal forests are managed by the FS, and only the FS has a cooperative program to assist nonfederal forest landowners. Moreover, development of the two agencies has differed, and historically they have focused on different issues. Nonetheless, there are many parallels. For the BLM, many of the issues traditionally center on the agency's responsibilities for land disposal, range management (particularly grazing), and minerals development. The BLM assumed these three key functions when it was created in 1946 by the merger of the General Land Office (created in 1812) and the U.S. Grazing Service (created in 1934). The General Land Office had helped convey land to settlers, issued leases, and administered mining claims on the public lands, among other functions. The U.S. Grazing Service had been established to manage the public lands best suited for livestock grazing under the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 (43 U.S.C. §§ 315, et seq.). Congress frequently has debated how to manage federal lands, and whether to retain or dispose of the remaining public lands or to expand federal land ownership. Congress enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. §§ 1701, et seq. ), sometimes called BLM's Organic Act because it consolidated and articulated the agency's responsibilities. Among other provisions, the law establishes a general national policy that BLM-managed public lands be retained in federal ownership, establishes management of the public lands based on the principles of multiple use and sustained yield, and generally requires that the federal government receive fair market value for the use of public lands and resources. BLM public land management encompasses diverse uses, resources, and values, such as energy and mineral development, timber harvesting, livestock grazing, recreation, wild horses and burros, fish and wildlife habitat, and preservation of natural and cultural resources. The FS was created in 1905, when forest lands reserved by the President (beginning in 1891) were transferred from DOI into the existing USDA Bureau of Forestry (initially an agency for private forestry assistance and forestry research). Management direction for the national forests, first enacted in 1897 and expanded in 1960, identifies the purposes for which the lands are to be managed—including timber, grazing, recreation, wildlife and fish, and water—and directs "harmonious and coordinated management" to provide for multiple uses and sustained yields of the many resources found in the national forests. Many issues concerning national forest management and use have focused on the appropriate level and location of timber harvesting. In part to address these issues, Congress enacted the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA; 16 U.S.C. §§ 1600-1614, et al.) to revise timber sale authorities and to elaborate on considerations and requirements in land and resource management plans. Wilderness protection also is a continuing issue for the FS. The Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (16 U.S.C. § 528-531) authorizes wilderness as a use of national forest lands, and possible national forest wilderness areas have been reviewed under the 1964 Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1131-1136) as well as in the national forest planning process. Pressures persist to protect the wilderness character of areas in pending wilderness recommendations and other roadless areas. The missions of the BLM and FS are similar, and many issues, programs, and policies affect both agencies. For these reasons, BLM and FS lands often are discussed together, as in this report. This report focuses on several issues affecting the agencies' lands that appear to be of interest to the 110 th Congress, including onshore energy resources, hardrock mining, the National Landscape Conservation System, wilderness, wild horses and burros, wildfire protection, and Forest Service implementation of NEPA. It does not comprehensively cover general issues affecting management of these and other federal lands. For background on federal land management generally, see CRS Report RL32393, Federal Land Management Agencies: Background on Land and Resources Management , by [author name scrubbed] et al. For other information on the BLM, FS, and natural resources issues and agencies generally, see the CRS website at http://www.crs.gov/ and the CRS reports on related issues listed at the end of this report. A controversial issue is access to federal lands for energy and mineral development. Phase III of a BLM-coordinated study (issued May 2008) found that 62% of the estimated oil and 41% of the estimated natural gas on the 279 million acres of federal land inventoried are classified as "inaccessible" or unavailable for drilling and development. The oil and gas industry contends that entry into currently unavailable areas is necessary to ensure future domestic oil and gas supplies. Opponents maintain that the restricted lands are unique or environmentally sensitive and that the United States could realize equivalent energy gains through conservation and increased exploration on current leases or elsewhere. Development of oil, gas, and coal on BLM and FS lands (and other federal lands) is governed primarily by the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 (30 U.S.C. § 181). Leasing on BLM lands goes through a multi-step approval process. If the minerals are located on FS lands, the FS must perform a leasing analysis and approve leasing decisions for specific lands before the BLM may lease minerals. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct, P.L. 109-58 ) made significant changes to the laws governing federal energy resources, including the management of energy development on BLM and FS lands. Implementation of these changes is discussed below. The Administration is responding to provisions of EPAct. A BLM report analyzed the respective rights and responsibilities of owners of mineral leases, private surface owners, and the federal government under existing law, and recommended administrative actions that allow for access to oil and gas deposits while seeking to address surface owner concerns. Pursuant to § 352 of EPAct, the BLM issued a final rule in March 2006 that allows ownership of oil and gas leases covering greater acreages than previously allowed. The final regulation also extended the lease reinstatement period under the petition process. In January 2006, the BLM completed a final programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) for wind energy facilities on BLM lands. This document supports land management plan amendments providing for wind energy development in the western states. The review was undertaken in compliance with Executive Order 13212, and seeks to comply with congressional directives in EPAct directing renewable energy development on public lands. Under § 369 of EPAct, the BLM has completed environmental assessments and issued leases for five oil shale research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects on federal lands in Colorado and one in Utah; a BLM report highlights the progress of the pilot project. Also, the BLM has begun a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) to support a commercial tar sands and oil shale leasing program. The BLM completed its draft PEIS on December 20, 2007, and published its proposed regulations for commercial oil shale development on July 23, 2008. Final regulations are required by EPAct 2005 within six months of issuing the final PEIS. However, language in the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act ( P.L. 110-161 ), which included DOI funding, prohibited FY2008 expenditures to finalize regulations for a commercial oil shale leasing program. The prohibition on using funds to issue final rules was omitted from the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2009 (CR, Division A, P.L. 110-329 ). The CR provides appropriations to DOI agencies (among others) through March 6, 2009. The Interior Department issued a statement indicating that the final rule for a commercial oil shale and tar sands leasing program would likely be completed by the end of the 2008 calendar year. The BLM completed its final environmental impact statement on September 4, 2008.