On the Ground

In this debut episode of “We Do That!”, a special new mini-series from the BLM’s On the Ground podcast, we take a look at Wyoming’s National Minerals Testing Laboratory — a small but mighty facility doing big things for the management of our public lands. Included are behind-the-scenes insights on the facility’s history, discussion of ongoing mineral analysis processes, and visions for the future of the laboratory.

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument is a unique geological destination for visitors from around the world. Turning from a hidden gem to a primary tourist destination here in New Mexico, the BLM—in partnership with Cochiti Pueblo—has taken steps to provide a sustainable recreational destination for visitors while also protecting its fragile resources. 

In the final installment of BLM On the Ground’s three-part Wildfire Awareness Month podcast series, we discuss wildfire prevention education, the prevalence of human-caused wildfires, and the importance of public responsibility, such as preparing properly before recreating on public lands, checking fire danger levels, and reporting wildfires immediately.

To continue our three-episode podcast series on wildfire awareness, this week’s episode delves into the importance of effective communication pertaining to fire prevention, examining best practices and strategic approaches employed by fire crews, as well as the major challenges and widespread public misconceptions surrounding wildfires.  

In December 2024, Backpacker.com magazine published an article titled, "Bob Wick Is the Greatest Outdoor Photographer You’ve Never Heard Of." You likely have seen his work on BLM.gov, in social media, in major newspapers and magazines, and on advocacy and industry websites. Today, we visit with the man himself: Bob Wick, whose primary job never was as a photographer. A photographer captures the majesty of the mountains along the Old Spanish National Historic Trail. (Photo by Bob Wick, BLM)

In recognition of Wildfire Awareness Month, On the Ground is kicking off a three-episode podcast series highlighting all things wildfires. The series dives into the critical roles, challenges, and innovations shaping how BLM Fire prevents and responds to wildfires today.  You’ll hear seasoned wildland firefighters discuss behind-the-scenes management strategies, and learn about the National Interagency Fire Center’s safety tips for the everyday public lands user.  

The Department of the Interior is changing many place-names on public lands to discontinue the use of terms that are considered derogatory to Native Americans. In Arizona's Yuma Field Office, this includes one lake on the Arizona-California border that was changed with the help of the Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe. In this report, Heather Feeney speaks to Ray Castro, Yuma Field Manager about the reasons and process for changing the name. 

In 2000, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt authorized the creation of the National Landscape Conservation System, the BLM's official directorate for managing National Conservation Lands. In this episode, we reflect on the early years of the NLCS and how BLM created the structure to manage these beautiful and iconic locations with three people who led the program: Elaine Marquis-Brong, Elena Daly, and Carl Rountree. 

In 2025, the Bureau of Land Management will celebrate 25 years since the creation of the National Landscape Conservation System in 2000. But to appreciate the breadth of National Conservation Lands, you actually need to go back more than 50 years. 

In this holiday season of giving, the BLM sincerely thanks the many thousands of volunteers who have freely given their time and efforts to care for public lands. Highlighted in this podcast episode are Sue and Jim Johnston, a couple out of Utah who have been making a difference in our trails in Kanab for more than 10 years. Their positive impact and attitudes towards maintaining public lands, as well as laying the groundwork for future preservation long after they’re gone, is what sets them apart as an admirable model for future generations to follow. The duo has received BLM’s Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award for their continued dedication to beauty and workable recreation.

The BLM's onshore oil and gas program manages oil and natural gas extraction nationwide, bringing in billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury from productive wells. But what happens if the wells we manage are no longer productive or maintained? This is the question that the Federal Orphaned Well Program is designed to answer. The program seeks to remediate orphaned wells on Federal Lands, as well as support efforts to do so from State and Tribal entities’ plugging programs.Orphaned wells are oil and gas wells that no longer have a responsible operator to plug and reclaim the surrounding land. When no responsible party exists, the BLM steps in to secure funding and resources to plug the wells, using funds from operators' bonds and legislative programs to contract and clean up abandoned project sites. In these cases, the BLM works with operators to ensure idle wells are either brought back into production or plugged before they become orphaned.Left unattended and unplugged, inactive oil and gas wells are environmental hazards that jeopardize public health and safety, as well as pose risks to wildlife. Emissions of noxious gases such as methane threaten to contaminate groundwater; unattended drill sites can lead to flooding and sinkholes. To prevent these dangers, the BLM works with contractors to identify, prioritize and plug orphaned wells.According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, oil and gas well plugging is a multi-step process. Before the actual plugging can begin, specialists must inspect and prepare the site, removing any existing infrastructure and production tubing. Teams then pump strong plugging materials with low permeability, such as cement, deep into the inactive wells. The placement of underground plugs at the oil and gas production zones and water aquifers seals off emissions and prevents contamination. Assuming the plug passes necessary pressure tests, and no adjustments are needed, the well is then capped, and reclamation activities begin.Reclamation aims to restore the project site to match its surrounding environment, bringing it to a condition equal to or closely approximating that which existed before the land was disturbed. Through ecosystem restoration, including restoration of any natural vegetation, hydrology, and wildlife habitats affected by surface disturbances from construction and operating activities at an oil and gas site, the BLM can ensure that any effects of oil and gas development on the land and on other resources and uses are not permanent.Plugged and reclaimed orphan well sites have the potential to provide healthy wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and more. The Orphaned Wells program underscores the importance of responsible land stewardship and the BLM's commitment to environmental restoration. The Department’s Orphaned Wells Program Office’s newly released Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2025-2030 communicates how we can serve the orphaned wells community and ensure success in transforming a legacy of environmental pollution into a legacy of environmental stewardship.

The Bureau of Land Management today announced a Restoration Blueprint that outlines the need for additional investment to restore public lands. As the largest land manager in the country, BLM is launching the Restoration Blueprint to build upon past efforts and increase the scale and efficacy of its efforts.“It’s important for us to show that we have a plan for how we make sure the landscapes that we manage on behalf of the American people are resilient,” said Sharif Branham, assistant director for BLM’s Resources and Planning Directorate. “We're talking about a way to articulate how ‘this is our plan to make sure that these landscapes provide natural benefits for ecosystem services. Not only for the near future but going forward.’”“Where we see new problems emerge, we want to be positioned to be able to take on those new problems,” Branham said. “We still have multiple use as a responsibility, but here's how we're going to restore and maintain the landscape so that it is possible in the future to have all the options before us for these multiple uses.”BLM has been actively restoring public lands for most of the last 25 years, when severe wildfires in 1999 and 2000 prompted the Bureau to create a system to gather native seeds and plant materials for wildfire recovery. Recent investments from Congress provided much-needed support to increase the amount of restoration work the BLM delivers.The Restoration Blueprint outlines five goals to focus future funding and decision-making: Ensure clean water: Nature-based solutions offer cost-effective approaches, such as projects that mimic wood structures traditionally built by beavers. These efforts connect rivers to their floodplains as nature intended, improving fish habitat and increasing water quality and storage. (Video, Wyoming)Protect communities from wildfire: BLM is committed to protecting communities, reducing wildfire risks, and recovering scorched landscapes. By combining fuels management with community engagement, BLM is aggressively working to minimize the risk and impact of wildfires in changing western landscapes. (Video-Colorado, Audio-Colorado)Promote productive rangelands: Primary threats are invasive non-native species which disrupt the generation of new plant life essential to people and wildlife. By implementing land health standards and working closely with ranchers to adopt sound range management practices—such as resting grazing allotments and timing grazing to favor native plant growth—BLM can help reduce the spread of invasive grasses.  (BLM Blog: Invasive Species and Fire / Partners In The Sage Fire and Invasives website / Video: Outcome Based Grazing, Wyoming)Ensure healthy fish and wildlife habitat: With state and Tribal management agencies, BLM manages habitat for more than 3,000 species, including threatened and endangered species, across some of the nation’s most ecologically diverse and unique landscapes. Habitat restoration efforts by BLM and its partners help maintain the broader ecological integrity of our natural world.  (Blog post/video, Alaska)Deliver exceptional and unique outdoor recreational experiences: As more people seek the outdoors, visitation to public lands is surging. The health and accessibility of these lands is a significant factor that draws visitors. By focusing restoration on improving key recreational experiences, BLM enhances the health of public lands and strengthens the bond of stewardship between the nation and its treasured landscapes.  (Audio-Nevada / Audio-Utah / Video-Arizona)Currently, approximately 12% of BLM’s budget is allocated across 10 national programs to on-the-ground restoration, excluding administrative and personnel costs.

In 2023, BLM announced an interagency agreement with the Intermountain West Joint Venture to improve sagebrush ecosystems. One year later, we take a look at what IWJV is doing with some of the funding in Montana. We interview two partners who are working on opposite ends of the state to fill skills gaps and encourage conversations with partners. 

The Sky Islands of southeastern Arizona are a bowl-like natural feature that blocks out many electromagnetic signals. This is an ideal environment for the Department of Defense to train intelligence specialists and drone operators. It's also part of a unique ecosystem that includes millions of acres of BLM, Forest Service, State of Arizona, and private lands that all involved would like to see conserved. In this episode of "On The Ground," we visit with BLM Gila District Manager Scott Feldhausen on how he has brought BLM to the conversation with other agencies to accomplish restoration on parts of the three million-acre Sentinel Landscape area. 

Between Elko and Spring Creek, Nevada, a group of residents and recreation enthusiasts from the Elko Trail Systems Initiative (ETSI) is working with BLM's Tuscarora Field Office to create a new non-motorized trail system. The group hopes that it will bring fun and business to local communities. When completed, the non-motorized trail will be open to hikers, horseback riding, and mountain biking, including e-bikes. Today, we visit with Elisabeth Puentes, Tuscarora Field Manager, about the planning efforts for this new trail system. 

BLM-Utah's Color Country District received funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to expand its network of recreation trails at Iron Hills near Cedar City, Utah. In this episode, Mike Innes, an Outdoor Recreation Planner in the BLM's Cedar City Field Office, talks about the essential help from partners and volunteers to create a well-constructed mountain biking trail. The Iron Hills National Recreation Trail receives more than 35,000 visitors annually. 

Along the Dalton Highway in Alaska, BLM spends its first field season using acoustic bird monitoring to learn more about bank swallows and their nesting habits.

Whitebark pine is a threatened species of conifer that grows primarily in three states and western Canada. Foresters and researchers have been working for years to deal with pests like the mountain pine beetle, and diseases like white pine blister rust. Emily Guiberson (photo, above) has worked on saving and restoring Whitebark pines most of her career in southwest Montana. Now the lead Forester for BLM's Montana/Dakotas State Office, we talk with her about recent investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

Chris Holmes from BLM Communications speaks with Ashton Johnston, a program manager who helps the bureau conduct its once-every-two-years public outreach under the Dingell Act.  Johnston describes the process of how to explore the map and submit nominations, the criteria that's used to evaluate each suggested location, and what happens when the BLM concludes its examination of each nomination. It's a process that will continue through 2030. So far, the bureau has collected more than 6,600 nominations of public lands to open to recreation...and counting!

In Southern Idaho, BLM has been working with state and federal agencies and private landowners to treat and strengthen sagebrush habitat. In the Boise District, one of the largest projects is the Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-grouse Habitat project (BOSH). One primary purpose of BOSH is to reduce the number of juniper that are crowding out sagebrush and grass ecosystems, which are critical to the health of sage-grouse and other species. Cutting juniper to give the understory shrubs and grasses a chance to grow is one critical step. Another is to conduct prescribed burns. In this episode, we interview Lance Okeson, who has been working for many years on the BOSH project.

In 2018, a Category 5 hurricane blasted through Lathrop Bayou in the Florida Panhandle, knocking down trees and leaving a huge path of destruction. A few years later, specialists on a field trip noted that a very small population of red-cockaded woodpeckers, which are on the Endangered Species List, were alive on the Bayou's small peninsula. In February 2024, BLM and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service specialists conducted a prescribed burn on the peninsula with the intent to rejuvenate the landscape and make it more favorable to the woodpeckers and other wildlife species who live there. In this episode, we interview Bart Kicklighter, State Fire Management Officer for BLM's Eastern States State Office. 

BLM manages millions of acres of forested lands in a checkerboard pattern through eighteen counties of western Oregon. Critical to the health of the land are the rivers and streams that snake their way through these mountainous areas. BLM is one of many agencies concerned about providing strong habitat for migrating coho salmon, Chinook, steelhead, and other species. Consequently, BLM works with many partners to maintain and improve watersheds. In this episode of "On The Ground," we interview Rose Hanrahan, a fish biologist in Medford, Oregon who works in the BLM's Butte Falls Field Office. The Field Office received more than $700,000 from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act to improve fish habitat. Hanrahan describes why a river that benefits fish might look very different from a recreational river. 

 The Bureau of Land Management works with youth through a variety of programs. Those who come to BLM Visitor Centers and at many public events can quickly find educational programs geared toward young people. BLM also contracts with organizations that hire youth between the ages of 16 and 30 to work on specific public land projects aimed at ecological restoration, noxious weed control, public information, and many other programs. In this episode of "On The Ground: A Bureau of Land Management Podcast," we talk with BLM Specialists putting young people to work. In addition to its regular appropriations from Congress, BLM received an infusion of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act to help train future public land stewards. We'll visit with Maya Fuller, BLM's National Lead for Youth Initiatives funded by IRA about the goals of youth outreach. We'll also talk with BLM specialists in Arizona, Utah and Montana about work planned this summer. And finally, we'll meet a college freshman in Colorado who hopes to make natural resources a future career. It's an extended edition of "On The Ground!" Interviews: Maya Fuller, National Youth Coordinator for Inflation Reduction Act ProjectsRachel Shively, Restoration Landscape Specialist, BLM Arizona Strip Field Office, ArizonaDustin Shaible, Wildlife Biologist, BLM Color Country District, UtahCory Manseau, Project Manager, BLM Dillon Field Office, MontanaGrace Wahl, Intern, BLM Kremmling Field Office, Colorado 

ABOVE PHOTO: A construction worker finishes cement work on a mine adit closure. The finished product will allow bats and small creatures through, but keep humans out.In the southwestern corner of New Mexico, the Bureau of Land Management is closing more than 300 mine features -- adits, shafts and other open spaces. Frequently hidden from view, these sites were abandoned years ago and can be dangerous for humans unfamiliar with the area where they are located. Some of these features also provide a glimpse into the nation's mining history. Simply closing mines is not a blanket solution. Some of these are home to animal species like the Mexican long-nosed bat -- also called the greater long-nosed bat -- a small species that was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 1988. While the process of closing the mine features has been ongoing since 2016, BLM received funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2022 to restore the abandoned mine lands. For Physical Scientist Chris Teske, this involves improving the bat habitat as well as making the area safer.

The Bureau of Land Management is a partner with many other organizations and landowners -- public, private, and non-profit -- in managing the Cosumnes Watershed. The 46,000-acre Cosumnes River Preserve is an important stopping point for migratory birds, and a beloved recreation area for people living in California's Central Valley near Sacramento. Amy Fesnock is the BLM's Cosumnes River Preserve manager in Galt, California. BLM received $76,000 from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and more than $7.5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for landscape restoration. BLM and its partners plan a variety of projects at the site, from improving the habitat for the threatened giant garter snake, to providing environmental education and growing native seedlings for replanting with local school children. In this interview, Fesnock speaks to the vital role that partnerships play in the success of improving the river's landscape. 

In 2023, after years of planning between BLM, the Forest Service, and state and local agencies, interagency crews ignited the Animas City Mountain prescribed burn. In this interview, James Savage, a supervisory fire management officer with BLM, talks about how it all came together and how BLM leveraged funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to protect homes and businesses. Savage also talks about how the area looks now compared with untreated areas, one year after the fire. BLM and its partners will continue to work on some remaining spots inside the burn perimeter as opportunity allows, and Savage says that there are other places that need treatment as they did with Animas City Mountain to further protect Durango. This fire, said Savage, could be a model for prescribed fires protecting other communities across the West. For more information: Watch video from the 2023 Animas City Mountain prescribed fire.