#nationalconservationarea

[mypubliclands]

Las Cienegas NCA Grazing Program

For more than half a century, the BLM has proudly worked with the many thousands of American ranchers who graze their livestock on 155 million acres of our nation’s public rangelands.

Spring is roundup and branding time for the new calves born each year at the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (NCA).  Located only an hour’s drive from the rapidly growing Tucson metropolitan area, Las Cienegas is a model area that provides for various public uses such as livestock and outdoor recreation, while maintaining and enhancing important conservation values. The NCA and adjoining partner lands support five of the rarest grassland and riparian vegetative communities in the American Southwest and provide habitat for several threatened and endangered species. 

Livestock grazing is an important activity in the NCA, which historically was a large working ranch. Congress designated The NCA to conserve nationally important resources while allowing livestock grazing and recreation to continue in appropriate areas. An extensive ecological monitoring program is providing data on key ecological values that the BLM uses to work with the ranchers to adjust grazing, landscape restoration and other activities in order to optimize the land’s health. The Nature Conservancy and state of Arizona cooperate closely with the BLM on projects within the NCA and on adjoining reserves.

The area is an outstanding living laboratory for field trips. Middle school students at the Wild About Grasslands! Education program, for example, assist with annual mapping of perennial surface water on Cienega Creek. The NCA has a strong history of scientific research, resulting in several hundred scientific publications. More than forty research and monitoring projects are ongoing.  With this adaptive management approach, the local community of scientists, managers, ranchers and other citizens can clearly see the connection between research and management decisions that benefit the grasslands, riparian areas, working landscapes and associated habitats at Las Cienegas NCA and beyond.

Photos and videos by Bob Wick, BLM.

Follow this link to learn more about BLM’s Rangeland Management.

[new-mexico]

El Malpais NCA by mypubliclands on Flickr.

[mypubliclands]

BLM Celebrates National Public Lands Day with Condor Release

Managing public lands for healthy ecosystems, including diverse plant communities and viable wildlife populations, is an important part of BLM's work related to the Endangered Species Act. The California condor recovery program is an important part of BLM's mission.  As a wildlife biologist, father and grandfather, I would like my children and grand children to always have this unique vulture species abundant and soaring in the skies over the Arizona Strip. -Tim Hughes, BLM Arizona State Office Threatened and Endangered Species Specialist

Tomorrow, Sept. 27, the BLM, The Peregrine Fund and partners will release three California condors in the BLM-managed Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona. The condors were hatched and raised as part of The Peregrine Fund's captive breeding program at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, and will be transported to Arizona for the release.

As of June 30, 2014, 72 of the world’s total 439 birds live in the wild throughout northern Arizona and southern Utah. Recovery efforts have successfully helped the species recover from the brink of extinction when numbers fell to just 22 condors worldwide in the 1980s.  Success is due to the efforts of contributing partners, including the BLM Arizona, The Peregrine Fund, Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Kaibab National Forest and Grand Canyon National Park.

The annual release coincides with National Public Lands Day and results in approximately 300 participants. Join the celebration on social media! You can follow the fun tomorrow using the hashtags #CondorsOnTheRise, #WelcomeCondors and #NPLD on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Flickr.