Bureau of Land Management - Heritage Resources, Washington, DC

The vast public lands entrusted to the Bureau of Land Management hold some of the most significant evidence of human prehistory and history in the West and Alaska, the once-untamed frontier lands that lend America so much of its self-image. These Western and Alaskan lands also count among the world's very best outdoor laboratories for studying the fossilized remains of plant and animal life, which span from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of millions of years in age.

Humans have used and occupied the public lands for more than 10,000 years. In all that time the land has changed. And more than we might realize, human use has played a significant part in changing the land.

Long-abandoned archaeological sites and historic landscapes give us important insights into the ways human activities and the environment have linked together through time, how seemingly minor cultural practices can contribute to substantial environmental change. Discovering, studying and understanding the evidence of past human influences on the land can give BLM and the public critically important background as we plan how we should be using the same land today and in the future.

More kinds of fossils can be found on the BLM-managed public lands than under any other Federal or State agency's control, and all Americans share in this unique natural legacy. Fossils are the remains and traces of once-living organisms, preserved in rocks of the Earth's crust. They convey the story of origins and endings of extraordinary varieties of ocean-dwelling, fresh-water, and terrestrial creatures, played out over nearly 4 billion years of the Earth's 4.6 billion-year history.


Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-20 of 20)

  • Archaeological Explorations in Shasta Valley, California (1997)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Blossom Hamusek. Eric W. Ritter. Julie Burcell.

    The Bureau of Land Management proposed to transfer approximately 4300 acres in eastern Shasta Valley, Siskiyou County to non-federal entities. These lands were were scattered in 17 parcels. Before they were disposed of, intensive (Class Ill) archaeological inventory was completed for these parcels with the exception of one parcel and a portion of a second that were subsequently dropped from the disposal action due to important cultural values. The overall inventory resulted in the...

  • Archaeological Inventory of the California Desert: a Proposed Methodology (1973)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Margaret L. Weide.

    The California Desert includes a considerable quantity of archaeological resources along with its many other values. As the Bureau of Land Management seeks to meet the challenge of managing its desert lands for the common good, it is appropriate that the archaeology of the area be numbered among its considerations. Not only does the BLM have a legal responsibility to protect archaeological remains under Federal law, but archaeology constitutes a public resource in several respects. Understanding...

  • Archaeology Field Survey Reports Contributed by BLM, Arcata, CA Field Office
    PROJECT Uploaded by: Melinda Salisbury

    This project includes Archaeology Field Survey Reports contributed by the Bureau of Land Management's, Arcata, California field office.This initial contribution will establish a regional digital archive project whose goal is to accumulate heritage documents, greatly enhancing our ability to preserve historic resources within the North Coast Region.

  • The Archaeology of the McCain Valley Study Area in Eastern San Diego County, California: a Scientific Class II Cultural Resource Inventory (1981)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text George Harris. Edward Dittmar. John Cook. Cliff Gates. Ken Hedges. Andrew Christenson. Terri Jacques. Scott Fulmer.

    The results of a Class II Cultural Resource Inventory are reported for the McCain Valley Study Area. The Class II study is designed to accommodate the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) planning and management needs by providing a data base from which objective estimates can be made of the nature and distribution of cultural resources within a defined area. The data base was acquired through implementation of a seven percent multi-stage sample field inventory using an 80-acre transect as the unit...

  • The Archaeology of the Northeast Mojave Desert (1979)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Gary B. Coombs. Robert H. Crabtree. Elizabeth Warren.

    This report is concerned with the results of an archaeological survey of approximately 17,000 acres in the northeastern portion of the Mojave Desert. For readers unfamiliar with the term, an archaeological survey (or inventory) generally consists of an on foot reconnaissance of a given area, in search of archaeological sites located on the surface of the ground. The survey includes the reconnaissance itself, together with the recording of site and other information. The Northeast Mojave survey...

  • The Archaeology of the Western Mojave (1979)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Gary B. Coombs. Richard McCarty. Tara Shepperson. Sharon Dean.

    This report details the planning, implementation and results of a cultural resources inventory (or reconnaissance)of a 0.6% sample of approximately 1.4 million acres in the western portion of the Mojave Desert. The project was conducted in 1978-1979 by Archaeological Research, Inc. under my direction and in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (contract YA-512-CT8-160). This document is intended principally as a management and research tool. It was...

  • Background to Prehistory of the Yuha Desert Region (1974)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Margaret L. Weide. James P. Barker. Harry W. Lawton. David L. Welde. Staff of Imperial Valley College Museum.

    The Yuha inventory area as defined by the Bureau of Land Management includes two subareas. To the north it is dominated by San Felipe Creek draining out of the Lower Borrego Valley into the Salton Sink. The broad San Felipe drainage is flanked on the north by the San Felipe Hills, and on the south by the Fish Creek Mountains, the Superstition Hills and Superstition Mountain. The southern portion centers on Yuha Wash and the Yuha Basin, but includes the Coyote Mountains and the southeastern...

  • The Cahuilla and the Santa Rosa Mountain Region: Places and Their Native American Association, A Review of Published and Unpublished Sources (1981)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Lowell J. Bean. Sylvia Brakke Vane. Jackson Young.

    The purpose of the research described in this report was to assemble data on the cultural resources of the Santa Rosa Mountains and associated parts of the California desert as part of a larger study presently being conducted by the Bureau of Land Management Desert Planning Staff. This larger study is directed toward the identification and evaluation of Native American traditional use areas, ritually associated resource localities, and sacred locations or areas, so that these Native American...

  • A Cultural Resource Management Plan for the Fossil Falls / Little Lake Locality (1976)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Alan P. Garfinkel.

    The report represents the culmination of a three month effort to characterize the cultural resources of the Fossil Falls/Little Lake archaeological locality. The areal focus for this study was concentrated on the National Resource Lands adjacent to the geological site known as Fossil Falls. However, it was found by this researcher, the prehistory of the area would best be served by a more general examination. Since the action of the pluvial Owens River and the relative fluctuations of the spring...

  • A Cultural Resource Overview for the Amargosa - Mojave Basin Planning Units (1980)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Claude N. Warren. Martha Knack. Elizabeth von Till Warren.

    This overview is an attempt to pull together existing cultural resource data and to evaluate those resources of the Amargosa-Mojave Basin planning units. It is our goal to provide an evaluation and a description of the data that may be used as a basis for educated management of the cultural resources. These are divided into archaeological, ethnographic and historic resources with a section of the report devoted to each. The archaeological section includes only the aboriginal data. The exclusion...

  • A Cultural Resource Overview of the Bureau of Land Management Coleville, Bodie, Benton, and Owens Valley Planning Units, California (1979)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Colin I. Busby. John M. Findlay. James C. Bard.

    This report represents a contribution to a number of regional (i.e., planning unit) studies commissioned by the Bureau of Land Management for lands under its control in the State of California. The intent of these various studies is to provide the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with an overview and synthesis of the existing cultural resource information, including historic, prehistoric and ethnographic data available for the study area, in this case, the Bodie/Coleville and Benton/ Owens...

  • Cultural Resource Overview of the Eureka, Saline, Panamint, and Darwin Region; East Central California (1980)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Richard H. Norwood. Charles S. Bull. Ronald Quinn. Emma Lou Davis. Ronald Quinn.

    In September 1977 the Bureau of Land Management contracted with Regional Environmental Consultants (RECON) for the completion of a Class I cultural resource inventory for the Darwin, Eureka, Saline, and Panamint Planning Units within the California desert. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the existing information available about the cultural record of the area. The project was conducted for several reasons, including legal requirements of the Department of the Interior, Bureau of...

  • A Cultural Resources Overview of the Colorado Desert Planning Units (1981)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Elizabeth von Till Warren. Robert H. Crabtree. Claude N. Warren. Martha Knack. Richard McCarthy.

    The Colorado Desert study area covers approximately 11,000 square miles (28,500 km. sq.) of which over two-thirds is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The land is divided among the Imperial, Santa Rosa, Orocopia, Twentynine Palms, Bristol/Cadiz, Palen, Turtle Mountain, Whipple Mountain, Big Maria and Picacho planning units, which together will be referred to here as the Colorado Desert planning units. The area is bounded on the north by Interstate 40. Its southern boundary is the...

  • Evaluation of Early Human Activities and Remains in the California Desert (1980)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Emma L. Davis. K. H. Brown. Jacqueline Nichols.

    The desert quarter of California lies open for change and/or destruction. This report presents the area's demonstrated wealth of prehistoric information that still is little known, uncorrelated, controversial and fragile. To justify the large sums already expended on archeological surveys of CDCA, it is now essential to create a public document that goes much further. Our research outlines a story of desert prehistory --the searches of Rogers, the Campbells, Simpson, Begole, Childers,...

  • Gold and Lumber: Two Papers on Northern California History and Archaeology (1992)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Trudy Vaughn. Eric W. Ritter. Dottie Smith.

    This report is a compilation of two papers on the history and archaeology of the Shasta County area in Northern California. The two papers are: 1) Historical and Archaeological Investigations of the Horsetown Mining Complex, Shasta County, California 2) The Historic Blue Ridge Flume of Shasta and Tehama Counties, California Paper One: In the spring of 1991, historical and archaeological investigations were conducted on approximately 40 acres of federal land managed by the Bureau of Land...

  • The Historic Archaeology of a Chinese Mining Venture Near Igo in Northern California (1986)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Eric W. Ritter.

    This report details the archaeological project of mapping and data recovery from several trash dumps, a reservoir, ditches and other features of a small historic rural Chinese mining operation (CA-Sha-15l2) in the vicinity of Igo in Shasta County, California (Township 31 North, Range 6 West, Section 34). This site was discovered during a routine survey of public land in response to a mining proposal. This archaeological project may deal with only part of a larger historic mining system or...

  • Historic Data Inventory of the Shasta County Interlakes Special Recreation Management Area (1995)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Dottie Smith.

    In 1994, the author was contracted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to complete a historical (pre-1945) assessment of the Interlakes Special Recreation Management Area of western Shasta county, California. This rugged mountainous zone is located between the communities of French Gulch on the west and Shasta Lake city (Central Valley -summit City) on the east. The Sacramento River and Clear Creek are the principal drainages and the Klamath Mountain ranges in the locality have had both a...

  • Impacts: Damage To Cultural Resources in the California Desert (1980)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Margaret M. Lyneis. David L. Weide. Elizabeth Von Till Warren.

    Of the nearly 3000 prehistoric and historic sites recorded in the California Desert inventory, 36% have already been damaged so extensively that their condition is reduced to fair or poor. Vandalism is regarded as the major threat to archaeological sites in the desert, and both vandalism and ORV damage are increasing. Historic sites and prehistoric villages have suffered the worst. Less than 40% of them are in good condition. The damage that has been inflicted on archaeological sites in the...

  • An Overview of the Cultural Resources of the Western Mojave Desert (1980)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text E. Gary Stickel. Lois J. Weinman-Roberts.

    The results of a literature search are presented in this study. The literature search pertained to all unpublished and published written works relative to cultural resources located within the study area. These cultural resources consist of prehistoric and ethnohistoric archaeological sites as well as historic sites. Altogether the project area encompasses a vast amount of land in the western Mojave Desert of approximately 2.35 million acres. The majority of the project area is located within...

  • The Prehistory and Management of Cultural Resources in the Red Mountain Area (1981)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Michael C. Hall. James P. Barker. Russell L. Kaldenberg. Jan Townsend.

    The report is comprised of two separate "working papers" on the prehistory of the California Desert: 1) Background to Prehistory of the El Paso / Red Mountain Desert Region; and 2) An Archaeological Protection and Stabilization Plan for the Squaw Spring Well Archaeological District near Red Mountain, California. The first report represents the second in a series of regional (i.e., Planning Unit) studies undertaken or scheduled for the California Desert Planning Program, United States...