BLM to hold volunteer effort at Blue Creek Bay

COEUR d'ALENE — The Bureau of Land Management will host a volunteer event at the Blue Creek Bay recreation area east of Coeur d'Alene on Thursday as part of National Public Lands Day.

The event will be from 9 a.m. to noon and volunteers are invited. From Coeur d'Alene, take the Wolf Lodge exit on Interstate 90, head north across the freeway then turn left. Stay on Yellowstone Trail Road for about 2 miles. The trailhead is on the right.

Volunteer activities include planting trees and shrubs, minor trail maintenance, kiosk improvements and general site maintenance.

If you are interested in helping out, dress appropriately for the weather and terrain and plan to get a little dirty for a good cause.

Across Idaho, the BLM expects hundreds of volunteers and partners to take part in National Public Lands Day events.

National Public Lands Day this year is a special one for the BLM. In addition to being the agency’s 70th anniversary, 2016 marks the 40th year since the BLM’s bedrock legislation was passed.

The BLM was formed in 1946 when two agencies combined: the General Land Office, whose mission was the disposal of federal lands in the West, and the Grazing Service, whose mission was the regulation of grazing lands and the retention of federal lands.

As a result of the fusion of two different agencies, the early BLM lacked a well-defined statutory mandate for managing and caring for lands. The Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) — signed by President Gerald Ford on Oct. 21, 1976 — resolved that issue.

Today, the BLM is the Department of the Interior’s only multiple-use land management agency.

Additional information on the event and others can be found at https://www.neefusa.org/find-an-event.