George Lea suggested I send this recollection of Norma Hazeltine, an easterner who was BLM's accomplished chief of public information when I joined the bureau in 1949. The story was related to me by Ed Sweeney, a field examiner of the Portland office, after I had joined him and others attending an employee training conference at the Squaw Butte Range Experiment Station near Burns, Oregon, then being operated by BLM. Norma was lecturing to her class on public relations and needed to illustrate a point on the blackboard. But there was no chalk. Falling back on her resiliency and capability as a woman (probably the first female executve in BLM's history, and the only woman at the conference), she opened up her purse, pulled out a lipstick, and soon the requisite words were on the board, all in vivid red color. Ed said he was walking alongside Norma while the group was taking a conducted nature apprecation walk, heading southward in the direction of Sqaw Butte. (To those who are familiar with the butte, or one of similar symmetry, the name is quite descriptive.) Suddenly Norma turned to Ed asked him: "Why do they call it Squaw Butte?" Ed told me, that, not really knowing Norma, and unable to think how to answer her factually in a prudent factual way, and turning a bit red in the face, simply mumbled to her that he really did not know. And oh, by the way, those cook shack meals at Sqaw Butte station were out of ,this world!
The Bureau of Land Management, USDI Bend Forest District 1948-1954 By Bill Jensen
The Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, was established in 1946. Shortly thereafter, Public Law 291, the Materials Act of 1947, was enacted which provided for the sale of standing green timber from vacant public domain lands. Prior to that Act, only dead, downed or trees threatened with disease could be sold. Several offices were established to carry out the mandates of the Act, among them Bend, Oregon; Spokane, Washington, Missoula, Montana; Redding and Ukiah, California; and Russellville, Arkansas.
The Bend office, opened by District Forester Kenneth Burkholder in August of 1948, was responsible for timber management on the BLM-administered public lands in Oregon east of the Cascade Mountains, and in South or the Salmon River.
Archie Craft reported for duty at the Bend office two or three weeks later. When he was contacted by Travis Tyrrell from the Portland Regional Office and offered the job in Bend, Terry didn't have an office location to give him. He was told to go to Bend and look for the office, "It's a small town". Driving around the town searching for a sign proved fruitless. He finally located a Bureau of Reclamation Office and they directed him to the basement of the Pilot Butte Inn where he met Ken Burkholder for the first time.
After a short get-acquainted conversation, Ken handed Archie some letters written in his longhand and asked him to type them. Archie had made the mistake on his application for Civil Service employment by saying he could type- he took typing in school, but that was a few years in the past, but he knew he could again with just a little warming up. But Ken didn't a11ow for warm-ups and after a few minutes of listening to Archie's struggles with the typewriter he came in, picked up the letters and said he would do the typing. He gave Archie something else to do and a desk without a typewriter. A secretary, Evelyn Snapp, was subsequently hired to take the typing workload off Ken's shoulders.
At that time (Fall of 1948), the BLM accepted applications from timber companies for the purchase of timber from specific tracts of the public domain. Ken was anxious to get started on some of these applications before winter. Tom Conklin, who as the Regional check cruiser, and his congressman Al Smith, came to Bend and guided them through a few timber sale preparations. The first cruising and marking job was a small area on Crooked River between Post and Paulina, Oregon and second was the Lost Forest in central Oregon. Archie remembers the first day on Crooked River-in order to finish and not have to return the next day, they worked until the stars were shining and be began to wonder what kind of outfit be had joined.
That winter (1948-1949) was severe in much of the West with very heavy snow falls. There wasn't much opportunity to do field work except in the flat country of the Lapine, Oregon area which had about 40,000 acres of mostly Lodgepole Pine, and a scattering of Ponderosa Pine. They spent much of the winter on snowshoes running boundary lines and locating section comers, which 811 served a purpose in later years.
In the spring of 1949, Don Schofield transferred in from the Salem District and Ray Lawyer, another Forester, transferred from the Coos Bay District. Ray only worked in Bend a few months before resigning from the BLM. Rod Long. a temporary Forestry Aid, was hired for the 1949 summer and Dick Schroeder, a Forester, transferred in from the Eugene District. Peggy Carrier replaced Evelyn in the District Clerk position.
Don Kobelin came on as a Forestry Aid during the school break in the summer of 1950. Near the end of summer he told Ken he didn't think he'd go back to college, he'd rather stay on and work, to which Ken replied. I'll give you two choices. You can go back to college and get your degree, or I'll fire you!". Don went back to college, finished, and came on the District staff the following summer. 1951.
In the following year four more Foresters were added to the staff John Lanz, who had been working out of the Portland Regional Office, transferred in and Ken Vanderwall, John Birch and Bill Bones were new hires out of college. Lee Waterman was hired as another secretary Bill Jensen was the last Forester to come on board in February, 1953, and the District staff then totaled twelve.
Over the years the Bend District was in operation, timber sales stretched from public domain tracts near Gerber Reservoir and Lapine in the west to Riggins, Idaho in the north to Pond's Lodge near West Yellowstone and many places in between. In addition to the sales activity, timber trespass work was also undertaken. Fieldwork in the outlying areas, away from Bend, was completed in the summer and fall and the winter was spent working in areas near Bend, mostly in the Lapine area.
Most of the timbered areas in the District were those that had been overlooked when the boundaries of the National Forests were established and, as such, were either isolated stands of timber or fringes of timber abutting the national forests. The timber types were predominantly Ponderosa Pine or a Douglas fir - Ponderosa Pine mixture. The Lapine area supported a stand of nearly pure Lodgepole Pine.
For the most part, timber was marked for cutting on an individual tree basis using an Alemite oil gun that was converted to squirt paint. As a considerable amount of paint was used in marking, and it was expensive for the District's tight budget, Ken Burkholder found a local source for free and durable paint from the State Highway Department. They had a surplus of yellow paint used to mark the centerline of the highways and a tot of it ended up on trees in BLM timber sales. A lot of it also ended up on the Foresters.
In the Lodgepole flats near Lapine the cruising was done on an area sample basis-mostly a 20% cruise using plots as the sample. The sales were diameter limit sales wherein all tree in the sale area over 11 inches in diameter could be cut and removed by the timber sale purchaser.
In
1951 mother nature created a near-epidemic increase in the
porcupine population of south-central Ponderosa Pine forests. In
the winter, their
preferred (only?) source of food was the cambium layer in the
tops of the trees. This subsequently caused the tops to die or
become deformed. The Forest Service was using poison to thin down
the number of porkies. but John Lanz and Don Schofield applied a
more humane, and effective technique while cruising a timber sale
on the Abert Rim near Lakeview. During the two weeks they were on
this assignment, they shot 120 porcupines!
In 1953, the Regional Administrator decreed that an office should be set up in Boise, Idaho so as to have someone closer to the operations in that State. Archie Craft and Don Kobelin were transferred there and set up an office in the Land and Survey office in Boise, but still reported to the District Forester in Bend.
Shortly thereafter, in 1954, the Regional offices were closed and the State offices were established. This was the beginning of the demise of the Bend office. Craft and Kobelin were separated from the Bend office. Kobelin was re-assigned as a Forester to the Boise Grazing District and Craft to the State Director's staff in Boise. One of the decisions made at that time was that Foresters would be assigned to the grazing districts rather than being housed in a separate forest district office.
In a short time most of the Bend personnel were transferred. Ken Burkholder went to the District Manager position in the Eugene District, and the rest of the staff were transferred to other BLM offices. Finally, only Dick Schroeder and Peggy CatTier Schroeder (they were married before the office breakup) were left in Bend to wind up the operation, which was finished in a year or less.
Of the ten Foresters that were in the Bend office at the peak of staffing, nine completed their careers with the BLM:
Ken Burkholder retired as Chief; Branch of Protection in the Oregon State Office, Archie Craft retired as State Director in Oregon.
Don Schofleld retired as District Manager in Medford, Oregon. Don Kobelin retired as an Area Manager in Roseburg, Oregon.
Dick Schroeder was a Forester in the Oregon State Office until he passed away.
John Lanz retired from the Washington, DC staff after serving as the District Manager in Ukiah, California.
John Birch retired from the Washington, DC staff after serving as Chief, Division of Resources in the California State Office.
Ken VanderwalI retired as a Forester in the Eugene District Office.
Bill Jensen retired as Chief, Division of Resources in the Salem District Office.
Bill Bones was transferred to the Medford District in 1954 and a few years later transferred to the Redding District. After a few years there, he resigned and went back to his beloved Vermont.
Ken Burkholder steered a good course as the District Forester. He was a professional Forester; had a good grasp of forest management in the timber types of the area in the Bend District, was a tine teacher and those who worked with him carried these teachings wherever they went. It is fair to say that he was the father of the BLM forestry practices in eastern Oregon and Southern Idaho.
The Bend office served an important step in the development of a timber management program for the public domain lands in eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. The closure of that office was not without opposition as some people in higher positions preferred to keep it open. The efficiency of having Foresters working as a unit was proven, but disregarded. In the years after closure of the Bend office, forestry money was distributed to too many small pots in each Grazing District and therefore lost some of it's effectiveness. Some of the managers of the Grazing District were not interested in timber management and let the program slide. Often Foresters were hired out of college handed a program to run with little or no guidance from experienced personnel. Many years were to pass before the timber management program in the former Bend Forest District achieved the stature it had during the short life of the Bend office. And some think it still hasn't.
Paper written by Bill Jensen from notes supplied by Ken Burkholder, Archie Craft, and Don Kobelin and a little bit lifted from "Recollections of A Government Forester 1946-1976" by John Lanz.
Bill Jensen - Nostalgia Visit -Sep 19, 2001
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"Dan Goldy, Congressman Compton I. White, and the 1949 Conference on Revision of United States Mining Laws."
Dan Goldy, as BLM regional administrator, had set up an ambitious two-day conference at the Davenport Hotel, Spokane, and had invited many influential persons for a conference on public land management problems arising from the Mining Law of 1872. The conference had only started and I was taking summary notes of the proceedings when Congressman Compton I. White of Idaho came in, demanded a court reporter, and began to voice objections. He said at one point: "Well, now, I'll take over the meeting any time you want me to, because I have that authority." Dan explained: "Our object was to formulate suggestions to be submitted to the Director of BLM and the Secretary of the Interior." Cong. White asked Dan: "You recognize any authority you exercise at the time is subject to legislation by the Congress?" Dan said: Yes sir; I certainly recognize that."
The conference proceeded much as planned, during which Cong. White took a very active part. It was an open, incisive, authoritative exposition of the subject matter, with many points of view expressed. At the close Cong. White announced his plan to have the official record transcribed and made available through the House Committee on Public Lands. It was printed as Hearings before a Special Subcommittee, 81st Cong., First Sess., Oct. 17-18, 1949, consisting of 295 pages of transcript and documents. An historic and comprehensive document of the times.
Here are the closing comments of the two leading participants:
"Congressman White: I want to express my keen appreciation of the wonderful courtesy and fine ability of the chairman in conducting this meeting."
"Mr. Goldy: Thank you very much, Mr. Congressman, and let me say I appreciate very much your attendance at this meeting and your participation in it, and particularly I want to thank you for making available to us this fine record which I am afraid otherwise we wouldn't have had."
Karl S. Landstrom, May 8, 2001, in remembering my good friend and colleague, the late Dan Goldy.
"BLM and the Small Tract Act in the Southern California Desert", a brief history by Lou Bellesi
The Small Tract Act of 1938 was enacted in response to requests by primarily World War I Servicemen who wanted to move out in the desert for health and recreational purposes. Subsequently, after World War II, Southern Californians began looking for small acreages in the desert to get away from the smog and burgeoning population centers. The Small Tract Act was about the only method of making federal land available. Local counties were enthusiastic about "getting lands on the tax rolls", and were not concerned about infrastructure (roads, water, power, schools) to support such development.
The entire program, like Topsy, "just growed". In early 1959 the program was not resulting in an orderly development of the desert. Thousands of requests for classification for Small Tract disposal were pending. The requests were handled on a first-come, first-served basis, and at the same time there were several thousand vacant small tracts that had never been proved up on (no structure built). Those with applications for classification were pressuring Congress for action on their requests. Public hearings were held in Riverside and San Bernardino to resolve the situation. Local officials testified that counties wanted the lands put on the tax rolls, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officers were not too sure how fast they could respond to the crush of applications. (Training of personnel and streamlining of procedures were required.)
Nolan Keil was sent to the Los Angeles Office of BLM and noted that if the classification requests pending and the non-developed areas of previously classified areas could be shuffled together, the situation might be remedied. Subsequently, the development (structure) requirements for small tracts were dropped and lands were offered at fair market value (FMV) with no building requirement. Local officials were not completely happy with this arrangement, but it did lead to the end of the speculative boom in Small Tracts. Some 4,000 previously classified Small Tracts were offered at public auction at FMV, and the demand balloon punctured. Several hundred sold at the auction and the remainder were offered at weekly public auctions at no less than FMV.
When the public saw that there were lands available on a continuing basis in various areas, the land boom subsided. Procedures for requests for classification of "new" areas were streamlined, too. Instead of first-come, first-served in order of application, entire areas were examined for classification. In time, and under competent leadership ("Spud" Chandler, Oliver Johnson, and others), the situation was handled.
Some of the problems that evolved from the Small Tract Program were:
*Failure to reserve proper road right-of-ways (ROW). In some cases no ROW's were set aside in classification orders, and in such cases reserves were made around the perimeter of each individual tract. This restricted the use of the entire tract when in reality only one side needed to be encumbered.
*Classification for small tract disposal of unsuitable lands. Some early classifications were made from inadequate maps with no land examination. Steep terrain and blow-sand areas were classified, resulting in impassible roads and non-buildable sites.
*Unsightly or inappropriate structures.
*Leap-frog types of development.
*Inadequate subdivision because of survey limitations. Compare Yucca Valley (mostly privately developed) and Morongo Valley (Small Tracts).
*Limited commercial development.
Recently, a Los Angeles paper had an article about the Congress, at the behest of a California Congressman, appropriating a goodly sum of money to eradicate slums in the "Wonder Valley", a former Southern California Small Tract development. The Congressman railed at the federal government for permitting such development to occur. One can only recall the words of local officials' testimony, decades ago, "Just get these public lands in private ownership and we will oversee the development." By and large, the Small Tract Program did transfer public lands into private ownership on a limited basis. It wasn't a "pretty" program, but on balance could be considered a successful "Hobson's Choice".
"More Information about the California Small Tract Program" by Ted Bingham, Senior Lands Officer, BLM
During the 1958 - 1960 time period, both San Bernardino and Riverside Counties were upset with the Bureau's small tract activities as they were creating unplanned pressures that the Counties did not want, especially when the small trackers from Los Angeles were hounding the Counties for local services. Both counties passed zoning ordinances limiting building permits to one per 40 acres - a R-1 40 acres zone. This stopped any Small Tract activity colder than an Alaskan winter. Discussions between the Bureau and the Counties failed to produce anything acceptable to the Counties - the Bureau was hiding behind its "Federal law prevails" face. As a result, the Bureau stopped processing applications in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties and the backlog of applications built up. It was this confrontation between the Counties and the Bureau that precipitated the hearings by the House Subcommittee. Gracie Post of Idaho, Chairwoman of the Public Lands Subcommittee, House Interior Committee, scheduled and held the hearings concerning the Small Tract activities in 1959. I was the chief chauffeur for her and her party as they toured the small tract areas around Palm Springs, Victorville and Twenty Nine Palms. Following the hearings, peace (we'll try to get along) was made between the Bureau and the Counties in that the Bureau would discuss all future Small Tract proposed classifications with the staff of the County Planning Commissions prior to the initial classifications. The Bureau was to take in recommendations made by the Planning staffs. In this manner some of the problems that Lou lists in his article were toned down; they were not eliminated. In addition, as Lou points out, the Bureau moved to a "sale without building" mode in 1959 - 1960. How well those of us in the Los Angeles Office should recall all of the complaints on why we did not give out magnifying glasses with our multiple page listings of small tract descriptions for upcoming small tract parcel auctions - all in #6 font. Another interesting sidelight of the Small Tract Act is that some of the early classifications of land for lease under the Act were made in such states as Florida - 9 FR 2178 (1944), Michigan - 11 FR 6456 (1946), and Wisconsin - 7 FR 6780 (1942); so it was not just a Western occurrence, although activity in California by far exceeded any other State."
January 20, 2001 -- "Cracking Down" on Mining Claimants
During a staff meeting in 1961, Assistant Secretary Carver asked those present, including myself, to react to copies he distributed of a BLM press release I had not previously seen, titled "BLM Cracks Down on Invalid Mining Claims in Mother Lode Country." His question was whether the release promoted good public relations. The reply from all except me was "no.
I said a few words defending this aspect of our program to eliminate trespassing on public lands, which had begun under Marion Clawson and was set forth in the "BLM Trespass Manual." I had had some experience with it, working with our mining engineer, Elton Hatton at Portland, and with Dan Goldy, Portland regional administrator and his famous two-day conference in Spokane in November 1953 on revising the Mining Law of 1872, printed as a House of Representives document. The release had been written by Bob Wilbur of our public relations office.
It wasn't long before I was asked to see Undersecretary Jim Carr in his office. Jim, whom I had known for some time, had come to Washington, D.C. from Redding, Calif, close by the Mother Lode country. He said to me: "Karl, you can't call my friends and relatives 'trespassers!'" I answered, brashly I admit: "Jim, what do you want me to call them, unauthorized users?" By this time I was beginning grasp that supervisory criticism of the release was referring more to the directness of the language of the release than to its substantive message. The matter topped itself off a day or so later when I received a handwritten note from Stew Udall, Secretary, enclosing a copy of the release, saying "Karl, I'm flabbergasted."
Needless to say, I met with Dwight Rettie, our public relations chief, in conference. Years later I asked Dwight Rettie if he remembered the event and his reply was "no." It is one of many incidents that stick in my mind as recollections of the trials and tribulations of a BLM director.
Karl S. Landstrom
ROBERT D. (BOB) NIELSON'S POEM
CONCERNS, APPRAISALS, WONDERMENT OF LIFE
As I stop to measure progress, reflect on where I've been,
Then think of where I'm going and wonder why and when,
Is there reason to keep striving, straining muscle, bone, and brain?
Life's still a major puzzle; I'm not sure just why I came.
There surely must be answers. I've been searching far and wide.
Religion claims some evidence with which some can abide.
I guess I'm just too curious or too dumb to understand---
The meaning of creation
The destiny of time
The dimension of the universe
The meaning of "divine"
The complexity of diversity
The consequence of change
The urge and drive to propagate
The survival of your clan.
Its a world of competition,
But I do the best I can
I just don't have good answers and years are passing by.
Today is time to celebrate, reflect upon the past.
The good, the bad, I am the judge, as long as I may last,
With family and friends with tolerance, I've some acceptance gained.
I've made some contributions, had some respect, some pain.
I'm proud of friends and family. My DNA lives on.
Along with my Sweetheart's help, there's been evolution
There probably is no end. I'll carry on.
by R.D. (Bob Nielson) PLF Life Member Retired as BLM State Director, Utah, 1973 42 Primrose St., Aptos, CA 95003 Email: RDN89@aol.com
HOW THE BLM GOT ITS EMBLEM
by Bob Wolf, BLM retiree and PLF member
When Karl Landstrom became Director in 1961 he decided to replace the old "busy" BLM emblem. Committees were formed, employees sent in designs and even the Army Board of Heraldry was asked to propose one. One employee sent in a picture of a broken down cow and a busted oil rig. This caused Assoc. Dir. Harold Hochmuth to embark on a fruitless effort to find the miscreant. No resolution on an emblem was reached. Chuck Stoddard replaced Karl as Director. I rejoined the BLM after a decade with OMB, GAO and on the Hill, as Ass't to the Director. The lack of a new BLM emblem issue was regularly raised by Assoc. Dir. Hochmuth at staff meetings to no avail.
I don't know about other's experience but with the exception of staff meetings on the Hill, agency staff meetings are mainly "turf protection" exercises, rather than serious discussions of vital issues. I used these meetings to "doodle", always drawing the same picture.
A stately Douglas fir, winding river coming out of the mountains and the triangle were part of a consistent "doodle" I'd done for years. After another of "Hoch's" complaints that we still didn't have an emblem decision, sitting next to Stoddard, I passed my "doodle" to him and said, "why don't we try this." He instantly liked the idea and put me in charge of perfecting it.
I immediately set up a meeting with Clayton Anderson who, headed the Recreation staff and was a progressive thinker, and Departmental artist Roy Prudhomme. The first thing that Clay and Roy said was "Put the triangle point down - it'll give the emblem depth. Clay and Roy liked the simplicity, pointing out we needed a sign that was not only distinctive but routable when made on wood. Both thought the design was more attractive than the Park Service and Forest Service emblems. To make it more routable by a sign maker, Roy rounded the hills in the foreground and made changes in the tree.
My job was to fend off each of the "disciplines". The foresters wanted more trees. The range people wanted a cow - then they sided with the cadastral engineers who wanted section lines, arguing for a barbed wire fence. The minerals staff wanted an oil derrick - the old emblem had one - and when that didn't fly, asked for a mine shaft in one of the mountains.
All requests were fended off. We took it to Sec. Udall. He looked at it, and pronounced it "Great!!". He had just come back from Japan. He looked at the mountain again and said "Put some snow on it." That was done and BLM had a new emblem.
The Boise Fire Center origin by Bob Wolf
When the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake hit, I wound up the next morning on Air Force 2 bound for Alaska as Interior's person, along with the Alaska delegation and a cadre of others. When we got back my job was assembling the budget requests for actions Interior would seek to have funded. 1964 became a bad fire year for BLM. My Western fire experience had convinced me long ago that the State Fire Protective Associations, State Foresters, BLM, BIA, NPS, Fish & Wildlife, Reclamation and the Forest Service, rarely truly cooperated with each other. Working on fire funding issues, I suggested to Sec. Udall that consideration should be given to creating an inter-agency Western Fire Center. He liked the idea and had me pursue it. It was relatively easy to get the Interior agencies to agree. We also had little difficulty deciding that Boise would be the best location. We didn't have a fully refined idea of what the operation would do, other than coordinate agency actions, be a communication center, and an aircraft marshalling point. A major problem was getting the Forest Service on board. In those days the Forest Service acted as though BLM would soon be out of business and the Park Service was an avaricious bunch of hoodlums, intent on carving vital pieces out of the National Forests. Sec. of Agriculture Orville Freeman had told Sen. Jackson that he was going to make the Forest Service part of USDA. Taking advantage of that knowledge, I asked Sec. Udall to talk with Freeman about getting the Forest Service to participate. It worked. The first issue was selection of a Director. We needed to bring Roger Robinson out of Alaska. He was near retirement and loved "Fire". He took the job and got it off to a good start. However, the fellow who made the Fire Center what it became was Jack Wilson, who ran it for the next 20 years. A WW II bomber pilot, Jack had a great "Can Do" attitude, a warm personality and an instinct for getting cooperation, while instilling discipline. I left BLM at the end of 1972 when I became the Assistant Chief of the Congressional Research Service's Environment and Natural Resources Division. I look back on my work in the Forest Service, with BLM on the O & C lands, the Bur. of the Budget, the Comptroller General's staff, and my Hill jobs, with many pleasant memories.