This first effort to assess the condition and stewardship of the Bureau of Land Management’s 26-million-acre NLCS spotlights the difficulty of stretching limited staff and funding to adequately protect a diverse American treasure.

To evaluate the System at the five-year mark, we examined issues ranging from accountability and resource monitoring to cultural site protection and visitor management.

We reviewed the stewardship and condition of 15 National Monuments, National Conservation Areas, and other special places or “units” in the System, and we determined grades on the basis of more than 35 indicators. Grades of “C” and “D” dominate the report (see Table 1), although some units of the NLCS scored very well in specific areas, such as leadership and empowerment or visitor management.

Overall, we found:

• Committed and passionate NLCS managers who are hobbled by a lack of empowerment and inadequate or unstable budgets to carry out their broad responsibilities. Only one-third of the managers interviewed had “line authority”—the power to direct staff and consistently make decisions. Further, the NLCS represents approximately 10 percent of BLM land, but receives just 2.5 percent of the Agency’s $1.8 billion budget.
• Road networks that fragment wildlife habitat and bring motorized vehicles near cultural resources. On average, 50 percent of land in NLCS Monuments and Conservation Areas is within one-half mile of a road or travel route. Ninety percent is within 2 miles of a road or route.
• Incomplete information-gathering. Inadequate monitoring of species, water quality, and unique cultural resources, in turn, hinders assessment of ecosystem and cultural site condition in the NLCS. For example, in 8 of the 15 units assessed, less than 10 percent of the area has been inventoried for cultural resources; monitoring programs are equally deficient.
• Satisfactory efforts to educate visitors who call for information, but a glaring lack of field staff to address illegal off-road vehicle use, vandalism, and other problems that accompany increasing public access and recreational use. Of the 15 units we assessed, one ranger patrols, on average, 200,000 acres—and in some cases he or she works just half-time in the area.
• An absence of public reporting on NLCS management, condition, successes and needs. There is no annual report for the NLCS with narrative and financial information; reports on individual units are also lacking.

Despite underlining the need for improvement in many areas, this assessment also offers some encouraging words. Nearly all units in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah offer some “best practice” examples of stewardship that we highlight.

With Agency leadership to replicate best practices across the National Landscape Conservation System, and to focus additional staff and funding on the System’s needs, perhaps at the ten year mark the BLM can be proud of its role in protecting America’s great western landscapes, wilderness, and ecosystems. At the same time, they will enhance recreational, educational, and scientific opportunities for students of all ages.