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BUDGET The United States Department of the Interior JUSTIFICATIONS and Performance Information Fiscal Year 2023 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT NOTICE: These budget justifications are prepared for the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittees. Approval for release of the justifications prior to their printing in the public record of the Subcommittee hearings may be obtained through the Office of Budget of the Department of the Interior. Printed on Recycled Paper This page is intentionally left blank. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ I-1 II. Crosscutting Programs .................................................................................................................. II-1 III. Budget at a Glance ....................................................................................................................... III-1 IV. Collections .................................................................................................................................... IV-1 V. Management of Lands and Resources ......................................................................................... V-1 Appropriations Language ................................................................................................................ V-1 Appropriations Language Citations ................................................................................................. V-2 Authorizations .................................................................................................................................. V-3 Summary of Requirements ............................................................................................................ V-31 Justification of Fixed Costs and Internal Realignments................................................................. V-33 Activity: Land Resources ............................................................................................................... V-35 Subactivity: Rangeland Management ............................................................................... V-37 Subactivity: Public Domain Forest Management ............................................................. V-43 Subactivity: Cultural Resources Management .................................................................. V-49 Subactivity: Wild Horse & Burro Management ............................................................... V-53 Activity: Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat Management .................................................................... V-57 Subactivity: Aquatic Habitat Management ....................................................................... V-59 Subactivity: Wildlife Habitat Management ...................................................................... V-63 Activity: Recreation Management ................................................................................................. V-69 Subactivity: Wilderness Management .............................................................................. V-71 Subactivity: Recreation Resources Management .............................................................. V-75 Activity: Energy and Minerals Management ................................................................................. V-79 Subactivity: Oil and Gas Management ............................................................................. V-81 Subactivity: Coal Management ......................................................................................... V-89 Subactivity: Other Mineral Resources .............................................................................. V-93 Subactivity: Renewable Energy Management .................................................................. V-97 Activity: Realty and Ownership Management ............................................................................. V-101 Subactivity: Alaska Conveyance and Lands ................................................................... V-103 Subactivity: Cadastral, Lands & Realty Management .................................................... V-105 Activity: Communication Site Management ............................................................................... V-109 Activity: Resource Protection and Maintenance .......................................................................... V-111 Subactivity: Resource Management Planning ................................................................ V-113 Subactivity: Resource Protection and Law Enforcement ............................................... V-119 Subactivity: Abandoned Mine Lands & Hazardous Materials Management ................. V-121 Activity: Transportation and Facilities Maintenance ................................................................... V-125 Subactivity: Annual Maintenance & Operational Costs ................................................. V-127 Subactivity: Deferred Maintenance & Capital Improvements ........................................ V-131 Activity: National Conservation Lands ....................................................................................... V-137 Subactivity: Nat'l Monuments & Nat'l Conservation Areas ........................................... V-137 Activity: Workforce and Organizational Support ........................................................................ V-141 Subactivity: Administrative Support .............................................................................. V-145 Bureau of Land Management 2023 Budget Justifications Subactivity: Bureauwide Fixed Costs ............................................................................. V-149 Subactivity: Information Technology Management ....................................................... V-151 Activity: Mining Law Administration ......................................................................................... V-153 VI. Land Acquisition .......................................................................................................................... VI-1 Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................... VI-1 Appropriations Language Citations and Authorizations ................................................................. VI-1 Summary of Requirements ............................................................................................................. VI-3 Activity: Land Acquisition ............................................................................................................. VI-3 Subactivity: Land Acquisition ........................................................................................... VI-7 Subactivity: Recreational Access ....................................................................................... VI-9 Subactivity: Emergencies, Hardships, and Inholdings .................................................... VI-11 Subactivity: Acquisition Management ............................................................................. VI-13 VII. Oregon and California Grant Lands......................................................................................... VII-1 Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................. VII-1 Appropriations Language Citations and Authorization ................................................................ VII-2 Summary of Requirements ........................................................................................................... VII-6 Justification of Fixed Costs and Internal Realignments................................................................ VII-7 Appropriation Description ............................................................................................................ VII-8 Activity: Western Oregon Acquisition ....................................................................................... VII-17 Activity: Western Oregon Transportation and Facilities Maintenance....................................... VII-19 Subactivity: Annual Maintenance & Operations………………………………….......VII-19 Activity: Western Oregon Resources Management .................................................................... VII-21 Activity: Western Oregon Information and Data Systems ......................................................... VII-27 Activity: Western Oregon National Conservation Lands ........................................................... VII-29 VIII. Range Improvements ................................................................................................................ VIII-1 Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................ VIII-1 Appropriations Language Citations and Authorizations .............................................................. VIII-2 Summary of Requirements .......................................................................................................... VIII-4 Activity: Range Improvements .................................................................................................... VIII-5 IX. Service Charges, Deposits, and Forfeitures ............................................................................... IX-1 Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................... IX-1 Appropriations Language Citations and Authorizations ................................................................. IX-3 Summary of Requirements ............................................................................................................. IX-4 Appropriation: Service Changes, Deposits, and Forfeitures (Indefinite) ........................................ IX-5 X. Great American Outdoors Act ..................................................................................................... X-1 XI. Miscellaneous Permanent Payments .......................................................................................... XI-1 Table of Contents Page-ii Bureau of Land Management 2023 Budget Justifications Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................... XI-1 Explanation ..................................................................................................................................... XI-1 Authorizations ................................................................................................................................. XI-2 Summary of Requirements ............................................................................................................. XI-6 Appropriation: Miscellaneous Permanent Payments ...................................................................... XI-7 Total Payments of BLM Receipts to States and Counties .............................................................. XI-9 XII. Permanent Operating Funds .................................................................................................... XII-1 Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................. XII-1 Explanation ................................................................................................................................... XII-1 Authorizations ............................................................................................................................... XII-1 Summary of Requirements ........................................................................................................... XII-6 Appropriation: Permanent Operating Funds ................................................................................. XII-7 XIII. Miscellaneous Trust Funds ...................................................................................................... XIII-1 Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................ XIII-1 Authorizations .............................................................................................................................. XIII-2 Summary of Requirements .......................................................................................................... XIII-3 Activity: Miscellaneous Trust Funds (Current and Permanent) .................................................. XIII-4 XIV. Helium Fund and Operations ................................................................................................... XIV-1 Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................ XIV-1 Explanation .................................................................................................................................. XIV-1 Summary of Requirements .......................................................................................................... XIV-2 Activity: Helium Fund and Operations ........................................................................................ XIV-3 XV. Administrative Provisions ........................................................................................................... XV-1 Appropriations Language ............................................................................................................. XV-1 Appropriations Language Citations and Authorizations ............................................................... XV-1 XVI. Appendices ... ........................................................................................................................... XVI-1 Employee Count by Grade .......................................................................................................... XVI-1 BLM Organization Chart ............................................................................................................ XVI-2 DOI 12 Unified Regions ............................................................................................................. XVI-3 List of Acronyms ........................................................................................................................ XVI-4 Table of Contents Page-iii Bureau of Land Management 2023 Budget Justifications This page is intentionally left blank. Table of Contents Page-iv Bureau of Land Management 2023 Budget Justifications 2023 Executive Summary The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was established in 1946, but its history dates back much further. With roots going back to the earliest days of the Nation, the BLM administers the public lands that remain from America's original "public domain." Today, the BLM proudly manages 1 in every 10 acres of land in the United States and approximately one-third of the Nation's onshore mineral resources on behalf of current and future generations of Americans. The BLM’s mission of multiple use and sustained yield supports many of the Department’s high priority goals, including conservation, recreation, and job creation and stability, by supporting working landscapes and responsible development of renewable energy. The vast public lands administered by BLM provide a multitude of benefits to the Nation and local communities. They provide timber, forage, energy resources, a wide variety of recreation opportunities and vital fish and wildlife habitat, to name but a few. These lands also deliver clean air and clean water. We depend upon them for our health and wellbeing. These lands encompass some of the Nation’s most historic and scenic landscapes. The ecosystems across these lands range from arctic tundra to desert, to forest, to sagebrush steppe and prairie About 10,000 BLM employees manage a vast portfolio of public lands across approximately 245 million surface acres, primarily located in 12 western States, including Alaska, and in scattered tracts east of and bordering the Mississippi River. The BLM also administers approximately 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate throughout the Nation, as well as mineral operations and cadastral surveys on 58 million acres of Indian trust lands. The BLM manages more fish, wildlife, and plant habitat than any other Federal or State agency in the country; more than 3,000 species of wildlife spend all or part of their lives on BLM- managed public lands. The Department estimates that $10.6 billion in economic activity and thousands of jobs are associated with the recreation, grazing, energy, and timber programs of the Bureau. Building partnerships and being a good neighbor to the communities surrounding BLM-managed lands is essential to the Bureau’s success. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) sets forth the BLM’s diverse mission of multiple-use and sustained yield. The BLM’s mission advances the President’s priorities of protecting and sustaining public lands and the wildlife, natural resources, and ecosystems they encompass for current and future generations of Americans, while also emphasizing the importance of these lands to the Nation’s economy and the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the country. Collaboration and cooperation are vital to managing sustainable, working public lands. This means respecting the ties that communities have to public lands and welcoming and valuing diverse views. The Bureau engages a wide range of stakeholders and communities to help guide and inform its land management decisions and maintain public trust. Lands managed by the BLM also include millions of acres that are of cultural, religious, and historic significance to hundreds of federally recognized Tribes. Thousands of cultural sites on public lands contain evidence of human occupation dating back as many as 15,000 years. As a result, the BLM has significant Federal trust responsibilities to protect these resources, as well as to abide by Tribal treaty rights and consult with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and Chapter I – Executive Summary Page I-1 Bureau of Land Management 2023 Budget Justifications villages on actions and decisions that may affect them. The BLM’s mission advances the President’s priority of strengthening the government-to-government relationship with sovereign Tribal Nations. The landscapes managed by the BLM face a host of growing challenges of enormous scale and complexity. Most prominent among them is climate change, which is exacerbating drought and water scarcity, accelerating the spread of invasive species, contributing to the scale and intensity of wildfires, and posing an increasing threat to native wildlife and ecosystems. These landscape-scale challenges confront public and private land managers across the West, dwarfing the ability of any one agency, State, or organization to address alone. The Nation’s public lands also face demands from America’s rapidly increasing and diversifying population, from increasing visitation for outdoor recreation to additional demands for clean energy, mineral resources, timber, and other products. To ensure the long-term viability and productivity of our public lands, it is imperative that the BLM ensures a balance to its multiple-use management approach. The BLM will work with Federal, State, Tribal, and private partners to address these challenges at a landscape scale to improve wildlife habitat, protect migration corridors, and focus on landscape resilience. To meet our obligation to the American public, the Biden-Harris Administration has launched the America the Beautiful initiative, a decade-long challenge to pursue a locally-led and voluntary nationwide effort to conserve, connect, and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife upon which we all depend. As part of this effort, the BLM will prioritize conservation and restoration of BLM lands, with a particular emphasis on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. In carrying out its responsibilities under FLPMA, the BLM will be guided by the report to the National Climate Task Force, titled “Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful,” which outlines the goal of conserving and restoring 30 percent of the Nation’s lands and waters by 2030 for the sake of the Nation’s economy, health, and well-being. As part of the initiative, the agency will seek ways to achieve more equitable access to public lands for all people in America. The BLM will continue to undertake this process with broad engagement from partners and stakeholders, including outdoor enthusiasts, Tribal Nations, States and territories, local officials, the agricultural community, and other important partners and stakeholders to identify shared strategies and outcomes. In addition, the BLM expects the new congressionally chartered Foundation for America’s Public Lands to play a key role in bringing together public and private partners and leveraging resources to support the America the Beautiful initiative as part of its work to help the BLM achieve its mission on behalf of the American people. The BLM will also be guided by Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” and Executive Order 13990, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis,” and associated initiatives to address impacts related to climate change and environmental justice from energy development on public lands. 2023 Budget Request Overview The FY 2023 BLM budget proposes significant investments in support of the President’s agenda to address the climate crisis, restore balance on public lands and waters, promote a clean energy future, reclaim Chapter I – Executive Summary Page I-2 Bureau of Land Management 2023 Budget Justifications abandoned wells and mines, and create good-paying jobs that include a free and fair chance to join a union. This includes investments to restore and conserve BLM-managed lands to strengthen climate change resiliency, adaptation, and mitigation, which will contribute to President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative. Likewise, budget increases reflect initiatives that support programmatic environmental justice for all underserved communities, including many displaced by the conventional energy sector and those most vulnerable to climate change. In fulfilling its mission, the BLM will honor and advance the Administration’s commitment to undergo meaningful consultation with Tribal Nations as we endeavor, together, to be good stewards of the public lands. The BLM estimates its staffing will support 10,592 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in 2023, an increase of 760 from the 2022 Continuing Resolution level. As population growth in the West has expanded, the BLM has faced a corresponding rise in public demand for uses of the public lands. The BLM strives to balance these demands while conserving and managing the public lands for traditional uses such as ranching, wildlife conservation, and open spaces. In many cases, the BLM’s management efforts across all these uses contribute to the vitality of local economies and recreational opportunities, and deliver benefits to all Americans. In FY 2023, the BLM will continue to improve the visitor experience to public lands by addressing infrastructure and maintenance needs. The BLM will prioritize implementation of the Great American Outdoors Act, which will enable the agency to significantly reduce and restructure its deferred maintenance backlog to more effectively support public safety, visitor access, and enjoyment both now and for future generations. The BLM is committed to fulfilling the agency’s trust responsibilities and modernizing the organization to reduce or eliminate duplicative activities while maintaining rigorous environmental standards. Interior bureaus and offices use field communications to carry out critical operations including land and resource management, scientific studies, emergency management, law enforcement, and wildland firefighting. The 2023 request includes $28.6 million across several Interior bureaus and offices (Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Office of the Chief Information Officer) for field communication modernization in the Great Lakes (Region 3), Mississippi Basin (Region 4), the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Land and resource management, scientific studies, emergency management, wildland fire and law enforcement mission areas, where agency policy permits and technology aligns, will have access to capabilities such as local control over the network to assign users and create talk groups, and determine who can access or manage mobile devices and platform applications. This investment will deploy mobile broadband connectivity and provide employees working in the field with voice, video, and data capabilities for all missions. Where it makes sense, the deployment of these capabilities will enhance or replace a voice-only, mid-20th century land mobile radio technology with technology that is cheaper to operate and maintain. As build-out in these initial regions is completed, DOI’s field communication governance body (consisting of bureaus, crosscutting program coordinators, and OCIO) will take the lessons learned from this investment to other regions to reduce operations and maintenance costs while increasing communication capability. Chapter I – Executive Summary Page I-3 Bureau of Land Management 2023 Budget Justifications The BLM’s budget request addresses key Administration priorities, including timber and rangeland resource management to avoid and reduce the spread of catastrophic wildland fire, foster resilient landscapes, and protect local communities. The request also reflects and strengthens the Administration’s commitment in the following areas: 1. Strengthening Climate Resilience and Conservation Partnerships 2. Accelerating Responsible Development of Renewable Energy on Public Lands 3. Creating Family-Supporting and Union Jobs 4. Implementing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 5. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Partnerships Strengthening Climate Resilience and Conservation Partnerships The FY 2023 budget proposes program increases to enhance the restoration and conservation of BLM- managed lands that will contribute to the America the Beautiful initiative, improve equitable access to the outdoors, and strengthen the economy. That enhancement supports Interior’s core mission and contributes to President Biden’s goal to conserve 30 percent of the Nation’s land and water by 2030, which will help address the climate crisis, improve equitable access to the outdoors, and strengthen the economy. The budget provides new tools to help the BLM meet the monumental challenge of restoring and conserving BLM lands to increase ecosystem function, resilience, and adaptability. To support these efforts, the BLM requests $299.4 million under the Land Resources Activity, which provides for integrated management of public land resources, including forestry, range, and cultural resources, as well as wild horses and burro management. To foster restoration of landscape connectivity and function, the BLM requests $29.7 million. These funds will be used to eradicate and control invasive species, re-establish native plant communities, and carry out other forms of restoration. Invasive species are a pervasive problem on BLM lands and waters; in terrestrial ecosystems, climate change is driving additional drought and fire, which makes it tougher to control invasive species. This work will improve habitat and support increased landscape connectivity and terrestrial and aquatic wildlife movement. Funding in Public Domain Forest Management will help restore forest structure and composition to improve wildfire and climate resilience. The BLM requests $158.4 million in Wildlife Habitat Management to advance efforts to identify, protect, conserve, and restore functional, landscape-level wildlife migration, dispersal, and daily movement corridors for big game, migratory birds, pollinators, and at-risk species. The BLM will also identify and protect important seasonal habitats to improve connectivity and address habitat fragmentation. To support the work to be done, the budget includes an increase of $12.0 million to help establish and support the Civilian Climate Corps (CCC). The CCC will enable the BLM to leverage the skills of young adults and veterans to improve the public lands, build a new generation of land and natural resource managers, and provide a pathway to good-paying jobs. To help implement restoration projects, the BLM provides strong support for the National Seed Strategy through the nationwide network of seed collectors, farmers and growers, nurseries, and seed storage facilities, and through research to develop science-based Chapter I – Executive Summary Page I-4

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