DOINews: Celebrating America's Newest Conservation System: BLM Features Three New Landscapes in Vintage Poster Series

On Earth Day 2014, the Bureau of Land Management introduced three vintage posters and postcards depicting some of the spectacular landscapes of the National Conservation Lands. The BLM is proud to share the next three posters in this ongoing series: Oregon National Historic Trail in Wyoming; San Juan Islands National Monument in Washington state; and Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico.

“These posters highlight some of America's most ruggedly beautiful, culturally rich, and scientifically important public lands,” said BLM Director Neil Kornze. “These awe-inspiring landscapes belong to all Americans, and we hope these posters and postcards will encourage people to come on out and explore them.”

During the week of Dec. 8, 2014, special events will be held in New Mexico, Wyoming, and Oregon to share these posters with communities near the featured sites.

The BLM's National Conservation Lands comprise nationally significant places with outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values. Created in 2000, the system now includes approximately 900 special sites – such as national monuments, national conservation areas, wilderness and wilderness study areas, wild and scenic rivers, and national scenic and historic trails – encompassing more than 30 million acres across the United States. These landscapes, which are mostly in the Western states, remain largely primitive and undeveloped but continue to support traditional activities such as hunting, fishing, and livestock grazing.

The first three posters, released in April 2014, featured Eagletail Mountains Wilderness in Arizona, Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana, and Headwaters Forest Reserve in California. The latest set is highlighted below:

Río Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico, which was designated in March 2013, is a showcase of stark, wide-open spaces covering 242,500 acres. At an average elevation of 7,000 feet, the monument is dotted by volcanic cones and cut by steep canyons. An amazing array of wildlife dwells among the piñon and juniper woodlands and the mountaintops of ponderosa, Douglas fir, aspen, and spruce. The area has also seen human activity since ancient times, as evidenced by petroglyphs, prehistoric dwellings, and many other types of archaeological discoveries at the site.

The Oregon National Historic Trail, which spans more than 2,000 miles across six states, includes a stretch of more than 350 miles across public lands in Wyoming. National historic trails help visitors recreate a unique chapter in American history when some 500,000 emigrants made their way overland to the western edge of the continent. Their determination resulted in 12 new states joining the Republic between 1840 and 1890, all west of the Mississippi River. As caretaker of more miles of national historic trails than any other federal agency, the BLM interprets this great westward migration and other aspects of American history via these landmarks.

San Juan Islands National Monument, also designated in March 2013, is part of a uniquely beautiful archipelago of islands, rocks, and pinnacles in Washington state's Puget Sound. Woodlands, grasslands, and wetlands are intermixed with rocky balds, bluffs, intertidal areas, and sandy beaches. This varied habitat supports a wide variety of wildlife including blacktail deer, river otter, mink, and a diversity of birds. Orcas, seals, and porpoises also attract a regular stream of wildlife watchers. With two historic lighthouses and a 12,000-year heritage of Coast Salish communities, the historical landscape is equally evocative.

See all vintage posters in the series to date with beautiful photos of the areas on the BLM's My Public Lands Flickr site.

By: BLM National
Dec. 10, 2014