As part of the BLM's National Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is holding an interactive social and economic public workshop Tuesday, June 26, from 4-7 p.m. at The Riverhouse Hotel and Convention Center in Bend, Ore. The workshop will provide an opportunity for interested individuals to offer information regarding the use of public lands resources, how public lands may influence their quality of life, and their social or economic values to the local area.
As part of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's push to build a bipartisan wilderness agenda that can be enacted in the 112th Congress, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) state offices will solicit suggestions and recommendations from state and local elected officials, Tribes, and other federal land managers on areas that deserve wilderness protection and that have broad support for congressional designation.
As part of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's ongoing agenda to change how the Department of the Interior does business, the Bureau of Land Management today finalized several reforms to its oil and gas program that will improve environmental protection of important natural resources on U.S. public lands while aiding in the orderly leasing and balanced development of the nation's energy supply.
As part of President Obama's all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that onshore oil and gas lease sales conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2012 generated $233 million for American taxpayers. In 2013, the BLM will hold 33 lease sales around the country. Since President Obama took office, domestic oil and gas production has grown each year, with domestic oil production in 2011 higher than any time in nearly a decade and natural gas production at its highest level ever. Foreign oil imports now account for less than 50 percent of the oil consumed in America - the lowest level since 1995. These sales build on that record and the President's goal of responsibly leveraging our domestic resources.
As part of President Obama's all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the approval of three major renewable energy projects that, when built, are expected to deliver 1,100 megawatts to the grid - enough to power more than 340,000 homes - and help support more than 1,000 jobs through construction and operations.
As part of its responsibility to manage and protect wild horses and burros, the Bureau of Land Management is soliciting bids for new long-term pasture facilities located in the continental United States that provide a free-roaming environment. The solicitation is for one or more pasture facilities accommodating 800 to 5,000 wild horses. Each pasture facility must be able to provide humane care for a one-year period, with a renewal option under BLM contract for four one-year extensions.
As part of its responsibility to manage and protect wild horses and burros, the Bureau of Land Management is soliciting bids for new long-term pasture facilities - located in the continental United States west of the Mississippi River - that provide a free-roaming environment. The solicitation is for one or more pasture facilities accommodating 800 to 2,000 wild horses. Each pasture facility must be able to provide humane care for a one-year period, with a renewal option under BLM contract for a five- to 10-year period. The BLM may require having one or two public and/or media tours hosted by agency staff and the contractor during the life of the contract. The solicitation is open until August 1, 2012, and is 100 percent set aside for small businesses under the North American Industry Classification System.
As part of its responsibility to manage and protect wild horses and burros, including those removed from overpopulated herds roaming western public rangelands, the Bureau of Land Management is soliciting bids for new, short-term holding facilities (corrals) located in 17 western and Midwestern states.
As part of its ongoing effort to ensure the health of Western public rangelands, the Bureau of Land Management is announcing its "Director's Challenge" initiative to expand volunteer participation in monitoring and sustaining the health of wild horse and burro Herd Management Areas (HMAs). More specifically, this volunteer program is aimed at engaging members of the public in monitoring, conducting inventories, and restoring natural resources on BLM-managed HMAs throughout the West.
As part of its ongoing commitment to improving the health and management of wild horses and burros on federal lands in the West, the Bureau of Land Management today said it will initiate 21 research projects aimed at developing new tools for managing healthy horses and burros on healthy rangelands, including safe and effective ways to slow the population growth rate of the animals and reduce the need to remove animals from the public lands.
As part of its continuing efforts to improve the national Wild Horse and Burro Program, and in response to a recent study of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Bureau of Land Management is seeking research proposals to develop new or improve existing ways of controlling the population growth of wild horses and burros that roam public lands in the West.