Land Surveying Video Guides

This 13 part series, known as Fractured Land Patterns, is the history of BLM. It was created in the mid 1980's as an interpretation of BLMs colorful history. The historical perspective presented centers around the uses, federal laws, and landmark events on Americas public lands which contributed to the fractured land ownership patterns that remain today. The series is divided into 2 broad sections the first is called The Public Disposal Era and consists of videos 1 - 6. The second is called Conservation and Beyond and covers videos 7 -13. The thirteen chapters in this chronology trace the settlement of the West from colonial times through the passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), which provides BLM with its multiple use mission. Set against the backdrop of dynamic economic, social, and environmental change, and with shifting national priorities, this series explains how the missions of the General Land Office and the U.S. Grazing Service were merged with a stroke of the pen by President Harry S. Truman in 1946 to create the Bureau of Land Management Disclaimer: The opinions and statements of non-BLM personnel are included to illustrate alternative points of view at the time and do not necessarily represent the official position of the BLM.