Monumental Questions - Federal Public Lands

Kristie Ehrhardt • November 5, 2025

If you’re a friend of Tuleyome you likely know a bit about our (it belongs to all of us) newly expanded favorite National Monument - the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. You may also recognize that federal public lands are lands that are owned and/or managed by the United States federal government for the enjoyment of its citizens. And, you probably know that in addition to national monuments there are also national parks, national forests and national historic places but did you know that there are many more public land designations as well?!


There are many (MANY!) different types of federal public lands. Most of them are held for conservation, resource management and public recreation. The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) oversees several federal agencies that manage various public land designations and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees other agencies that steward public lands. Federal public lands in the United States, District of Columbia and US territories total approximately 640 million acres and occupy nearly 30% of the land area. 


The National Park Service is an agency within the DOI and oversees not only national parks but also most national monuments and other natural, historical and recreational properties with various title designations or units.  These include national preserves, national lakeshores and seashores, national rivers and wild and scenic rivers and national scenic and historic trails, among others. Today The National Park Service currently manages 433 combined parks/units including 63 national parks, 87 national monuments, 75 national historic sites, 64 national historic sites and many other designations totaling 85 million acres in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and US territories. Their management focus is preserving the ecological and historical integrity of these special places for public use and enjoyment. 


The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is a federal agency also under the direction of the DOI.  The BLM’s mission is “to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.” We here at Tuleyome think that’s pretty dang good and we often partner with them on varying components of public land use and enjoyment. The BLM is responsible for the management of a substantial portion of the nation’s public lands including some of our most historic and scenic landscapes and natural resources for all to enjoy.


The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is another agency operated under the DOI and is the oldest conservation agency in the United States. It was established in 1871 to help monitor the country’s game fish populations. Today the USFWS manages our nation’s wildlife refuges to conserve the habitat, plants and wildlife found there. The national wildlife refuge system began with Pelican Island in 1903 and today there are over 560 refuges across the country. It’s been said that if “national parks are America’s best idea, national wildlife refuges are America’s best-kept secret”. Although, they don’t seem like a very stealthy secret since they receive over 50 million visitors a year!


The United States Forest Service (USFS) was established in 1905 and is an agency under the USDA. It is the United States’ predominant forestry agency leading the world in sustainable forest and grassland use, management and stewardship, research and conservation. Today they are responsible for the management of 154 national forests and surrounding areas that total nearly 200 million acres in 43 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The agency also provides stewardship assistance to tribal, state and local governments, private landowners and corporations to improve conditions on about 900 million acres of forests in the U.S. 


Fun fact - Yellowstone was the United States’ first national park established in 1872. But, at the time Wyoming was still a U.S. territory so Yellowstone was managed by the federal government using the Army and the African American Buffalo Soldiers. 

 

Fun fact - the designation National Monument has been given to many different sites ranging from natural reserves, historic military scenes, prehistoric ruins, fossil sites AND to the Statue of Liberty. 

Fun fact - there is at least one national wildlife refuge in every US state and territory.


Fun fact - The Forest Service obviously manages forests but did you know that they also manage grasslands?


Did you know… that the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is jointly managed by both the BLM and the USFS, not the National Park Service!?


Whether you’re exploring places where you won’t find a motorized vehicle or places where you might not find a parking spot, you can bet there is at least one type of federal public land just a hop, skip and a jump from you!


The numerous designations within the National Park System sometimes confuse visitors. The names are created in the Congressional legislation authorizing the sites or by the president, who proclaims "national monuments" under the Antiquities Act of 1906. Many names are descriptive—lakeshores, seashores, battlefields—but others cannot be neatly categorized because of the diversity of resources within them. In 1970, Congress elaborated on the 1916 National Park Service Organic Act, saying all units of the system have equal legal standing in a national system.


National Park

These are generally large natural places having a wide variety of attributes, at times including significant historic assets. Hunting, mining and consumptive activities are not authorized.


National Monument

The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorized the President to declare by public proclamation landmarks, structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest situated on lands owned or controlled by the government to be national monuments.


National Preserve

National preserves are areas having characteristics associated with national parks, but in which Congress has permitted continued public hunting, trapping, oil/gas exploration and extraction. Many existing national preserves, without sport hunting, would qualify for national park designation.


National Historic Site

Usually, a national historic site contains a single historical feature that was directly associated with its subject. Derived from the Historic Sites Act of 1935, a number of historic sites were established by secretaries of the Interior, but most have been authorized by acts of Congress.


National Historical Park

This designation generally applies to historic parks that extend beyond single properties or buildings.


National Memorial

A national memorial is commemorative of a historic person or episode; it need not occupy a site historically connected with its subject.


National Battlefield

This general title includes national battlefield, national battlefield park, national battlefield site, and national military park. In 1958, an NPS committee recommended national battlefield as the single title for all such park lands.


National Cemetery

There are presently 14 national cemeteries in the National Park System, all of which are administered in conjunction with an associated unit and are not accounted for separately.


National Recreation Area

Twelve NRAs in the system are centered on large reservoirs and emphasize water-based recreation. Five other NRAs are located near major population centers. Such urban parks combine scarce open spaces with the preservation of significant historic resources and important natural areas in location that can provide outdoor recreation for large numbers of people.


National Seashore

Ten national seashores have been established on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts; some are developed and some relatively primitive. Hunting is allowed at many of these sites.


National Lakeshore

National lakeshores, all on the Great Lakes, closely parallel the seashores in character and use.


National River

There are several variations to this category: national river and recreation area, national scenic river, wild river, etc. The first was authorized in 1964 and others were established following passage of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968.


National Parkway

The title parkway refers to a roadway and the parkland paralleling the roadway. All were intended for scenic motoring along a protected corridor and often connect cultural sites.


National Trail

National scenic trails and national historic trails are the titles given to these linear parklands (over 3,600 miles) authorized under the National Trails System Act of 1968.


Affiliated Areas

In an Act of August 18, 1970, the National Park System was defined in law as, "any area of land and water now or hereafter administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the National Park Service for park, monument, historic, parkway, recreational or other purposes." The Affiliated Areas comprise a variety of locations in the United States and Canada that preserve significant properties outside the National Park System. Some of these have been recognized by Acts of Congress, others have been designated national historic sites by the Secretary of the Interior under authority of the Historic Sites Act of 1935. All draw on technical or financial aid from the National Park Service.


Other Designations

Some units of the National Park System bear unique titles or combinations of titles, like the White House and Prince William Forest Park.


Types of federal public lands

  • National Parks: Managed by the National Park Service (NPS), these lands are preserved for their natural and cultural resources for future generations to enjoy. 
  • National Forests and Grasslands: Managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), these areas are used for multiple purposes, including timber, recreation, and wildlife management. 
  • National Wildlife Refuges: Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), these lands are primarily for the conservation of fish, wildlife, and plants, but many also allow compatible wildlife-dependent recreation like hunting and fishing. 
  • National Conservation Lands: These are public lands designated for their conservation value and are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM manages more public land acreage than any other agency. 

Management and use

  • Management: Federal lands are managed by various agencies, with the U.S. Forest Service (Department of Agriculture) and the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (all under the Department of the Interior) being the primary ones. 
  • Resource Extraction: Some federal lands are available for resource extraction like oil, gas, and mining, which can be a source of controversy and debate over conservation versus extraction. 
  • Recreation: The lands offer a wide range of recreational opportunities, such as hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, hunting, and fishing. 
  • Information: You can find information about specific public lands, including maps and regulations, on the official websites of the managing agencies. 


RECENT ARTICLES

Policy Corner: Public Lands and Elections

May 11, 2026
 At Tuleyome, we support Public Lands Advocacy, Conservation, Stewardship and Education. Our commitment to these three pillars of action means that we must encourage our supporters to vote and to invest the time to learn how candidates for public office view public lands and public access to those lands. Public lands are a central part of our national heritage and have been so since the very founding of the Republic. The first shots of the American Revolution were fired on public land (the Lexington Common) in 1775. The practice of managing lands for the common welfare is itself tens of thousands of years old and is central to the traditions of indigenous people across all of the Americas. The relatively novel notion of private ownership of land has become prevalent in our society, but that in no way should blind us to the centrality of public land to the health and welfare of all. And yet there are those who would turn every scrap of public land over to private ownership for exploitation if they could. Efforts to privatize public lands or give Federal lands to states, where political pressure to privatize is stronger, have taken on a new urgency. They represent a significant threat to the public’s right to enjoy public lands. These efforts represent an existential threat to nature, wildlife and the land itself, as exploitation of the national legacy for private gain becomes the dominant ideology of certain elements in our society. Fortunately, as citizens, we have the opportunity to educate ourselves about who supports public lands and the public’s right to benefit from public lands. If you want to be a public lands voter, here are the three questions you need to ask everyone who is asking you for your vote: Do you support keeping public lands in federal public ownership, and will you oppose efforts to transfer them to state or private control? What specific actions will you take to improve public access for hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation? What is your plan to ensure that public lands are managed for a balance of conservation, restoration, recreation and responsible energy development? Public lands, which include our national forests, lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation, as well as the national park system, are managed for all Americans. Proposals to sell or transfer these reduce public access and jeopardize wildlife habitat. Ask for a clear commitment to keeping land access public rather than transferring it to state-level management. Ask what your representatives will do to eliminate private land bottlenecks. Ask for concrete plans to improve trails, access points, and habitat connectivity. Public lands are at the center of the climate crisis debate and many voters prefer conservation and renewable energy over increased oil and gas drilling. We support a balanced approach that prioritizes habitat protection and sustainable use, rather than maximizing extraction. This is the kind of long-term legacy that we owe to the people whose land we appropriated. It’s a legacy we owe to the generations of Americans before us who fought to establish the rule of law and the values of republican government. Public lands are the embodiment of the notion that we are a nation of equal citizens, indivisible, and not servants to the economic interests that extract private profit from public resources while socializing private losses on public accounts. If you want to be a public lands voter, take the time to educate yourself by visiting https://www.tuleyome.org/ and then ask those who want your vote the hard questions about where they stand on public lands. Then, Vote! Register to Vote here: https://registertovote.ca.gov/ The last day to register to vote for the June 2, 2026, Primary Election is May 18, 2026. Find your district and voters guide here: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections Voting by mail in California is safe and secure and really easy to do. You can track the status of your ballot here: https://california.ballottrax.net/voter/ Craig Perrin Tuleyome Volunteer Board Member

Monumental Questions - Monumental Clean Up Crew!

By Kristie Ehrhardt • May 11, 2026
Maybe you’ve seen some roadkill while driving through the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, along the freeway, or even in your neighborhood. Or maybe you’ve been hiking and caught a whiff of something really, really foul. Or maybe you’ve seen ants swarming on another dead insect or even come upon an animal skull during a day on the trail. Have you ever thought about what happens when an animal dies in nature and how does it “go away”? Enter nature’s clean up crew! Carrion eaters are organisms that eat dead and decaying animals. This can be roadkill, leftovers from other carnivores’ meals, animals that simply expire from old age or injury or those that have been hunted and unfortunately never recovered by their pursuer. It sounds pretty gross but carrion eaters play a critical role in ecosystem nutrient recycling. Sometimes they’re loosely called “scavengers” and one of our most valuable scavenger species is pretty common and can be seen almost anywhere in our region from urban to rural areas. Do you want to take a guess at what species it is? I’ll give you some clues… They have an exceptionally fine-tuned sense of smell and can detect the scent of rotting flesh from over a mile away. Are you jealous? Their stomach acid is ultra acidic and allows them to eat bacteria and virus-laden decaying flesh and still remain healthy. When they feel threatened they will vomit in self-defense. Considering what they eat, it’s pretty clever and effective. It also makes them weigh less so they can escape quicker. To cool off in hot weather they will defecate and/or urinate on their own legs. This is called urohydrosis. They lack vocal cords and cannot make vocalizations, they can produce only grunts and hiss sounds. Did you guess what species I’m talking about yet? Of course, it’s the Turkey Vulture! Their scientific name, Cathartes aura , literally means, “cleansing breeze”. It seems appropriate when you consider their role in removing carcasses that spread disease such as anthrax, botulism and cholera from the environment. Turkey Vultures do not have feathers on their heads and resemble wild turkeys which is where their common name came from. Although their bald, red heads don’t help endear them to those that like “pretty birds”, it does keep them clean while they jam their naked heads into sticky, stinky dead animal carcasses. Although Turkey Vultures are classified as a bird of prey, they do not have strong talons like other raptors and are not able to kill their own food which makes them reliant on carrion left behind by other carnivores, mother nature, or vehicles. Turkey Vultures also do not build nests like most other birds. Instead they lay their eggs on the ground in a sheltered place like a cave, hollow tree, rocky crevice or cliff or even in an abandoned building. I see a lot of Turkey Vultures so apparently that nesting strategy works well for them. California Condors are also carrion eaters and use the same nesting strategy but struggle with success in the wild. Unfortunately poor nesting success and other identified dangers continue to keep their free flying population fairly meager. Turkey Vultures are widely distributed and occur in nearly all of the Americas from southern Canada to the southern tip of South America. It is a permanent resident in the southern United States but northern birds may migrate south. It is found in a diverse range of habitats including deserts, grasslands, farm and rangeland, wetlands, foothills and mountains, as well as suburbia. They prefer open county without dense tree cover where they can easily take flight and enjoy the thermals. While soaring they resemble a dihedral (shallow V) and although they are master fliers, rarely flapping their wings, they appear unsteady by rocking and tilting in flight. Their slow, teetering flight allows them to fly low aiding them in detecting their next meal. Their body feathers are dark iridescent brown-black with highly contrasting silvery-gray flight feathers. Their short, hooked beaks are ivory-white against their bright red heads, juveniles’ heads are black. Their wing span is similar to Bald and Golden Eagles at around six feet and they can weigh over five pounds. The oldest wild Turkey Vulture was 16 while captive birds have lived to be 51 years old. Lead poisoning and outright killing of Turkey Vultures due to the false belief that they spread diseases (in reality they clean up the ecosystem!) are their main conservation concerns. Their population numbers remain strong with a global population estimated to be 18,000,000 individuals. Other interesting Turkey Vulture fun facts include: In the air a group of Turkey Vultures are called a “kettle” but on the ground they go by “committee” or a “wake”. Large groups of them roost together in trees and although I'm not sure what that’s called but that is an impressive sight! Gas and oil companies have been known to employ Turkey Vultures to detect pipeline leaks because the scent added to natural gas is similar to that of decaying flesh that they are so fond of.  Next time you see a Turkey Vulture soaring over our favorite monument, on the way to our favorite monument or even on your way home from school or work, give them a nod for doing a bang-up job of waste management!

Enjoying Outside with Tuleyome's Boot Bank!

By Kristie Ehrhardt • May 11, 2026
Did you know that Tuleyome has a hiking equipment lending program for kids?! The idea began as a Boy Scout project back in 2016. Tuleyome collaborated with Davis Boy Scout Troop 111 and so began our Boot Bank! The Tuleyome Boot Bank is a lending program that provides gently used, high quality hiking boots and other camping equipment to kids up until age 18 for FREE! The program was founded as a way to help solve the financial burden on families who wanted to enjoy the outdoors but simply couldn’t afford to continuously buy good quality, well-fitting hiking boots for little feet that just keep growing. As a mom I understand how hard it is to part with a pair of perfectly functional little hiking boots that never fit long enough to get worn-out, just out-grown. One of Tuleyome’s aspirations is to help families enjoy and explore nature and sharing well-fitting footwear is just one of the ways that we can help do that. Initially the boots were loaned out of the back of an antique milk truck that was generously donated to Tuleyome, along with operating costs to help encourage the young program, by one of our favorite supporters. The yellow truck, affectionately nick-named “The Wonder Truck” would visit community events filled with boots of various sizes for various sized little feet. But, unlike the boots, the truck began to wear out and unfortunately parts for a 1967 Divco step van were getting harder and harder to come by. We’ve since retired our “Senior” Boot Bank truck and it can be viewed free roaming at the Woodland Regional Park Preserve where it will live in peace surrounded by nature. Our “Junior” Boot Bank is a little more spry and able to travel at freeway speeds so you might see it around town or even visiting the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. The program began as a kid’s hiking boot “lending library” but has since grown into a program that now includes gear that is available for short-term loan to participants in Tuleyome events such as backpacking or camping trips or to youth-serving organizations that are hosting outings. The gear library includes tents, sleeping bags, hiking poles, backpacks, headlamps and other camping and hiking equipment. The goal of the program is to encourage youth and their families to experience the pleasure of exploring the outdoors and the recreational opportunities offered by Mother Nature. We are hopeful that by participating in positive hiking and camping experiences that kids and their families will develop a love and respect for nature, conservation and public land enjoyment. Thanks to our remarkable volunteers, the boots that Tuleyome loans out are always inspected and freshened up before they are made available for borrowing. Over the years, the collection of boots have been provided through donations by individuals and corporations such as Big 5, REI and Target. If the young members of your family are in need of boots or if your organization needs gear for a trip, visit the Tuleyome office at 622 Main Street, Suite 200 in Woodland during our monthly Youth Boot Bank Office Hours, 2:30pm-5:30pm on the first Wednesday of each month. During office hours you will be able to try on several pairs of boots and check them out, return a pair you’ve already borrowed or donate boots to the program. The Boot Bank is open to anyone 18 and under and provides free loans for up to six months; at which point borrowers can renew or trade up for a larger size if necessary. *User Agreement: Boot users sign an agreement in which they agree to use the boots only for hiking, outdoor adventures and inclement weather; not for everyday use (the purpose of the Boot Bank is to encourage participation in outdoor recreational opportunities, not to meet basic shoe needs). Users agree to return the boots in good condition except for reasonable wear and tear.