Beyond the National Parks: A Recreation Guide to Public Lands in the West

A 1998 book with about 400 6x9" pages on high-quality semi-gloss stock. The book is put out by the Bureau of Land Management and published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, and is replete with lovely pictures and color maps. This is a very professionally finished book. There's an introduction, which explains about the BLM lands and gives some general tips about camping, hiking, etc. The next series of chapters gives two (facing) pages each to various "partners", such as Nature Conservancy, Scenic America, National Geographic Society, Garden Club of America, etc. Each has one full-page picture, plus a description of the organization's agenda and a list of some favorite BLM spots. Then comes the state-by-state treatments - 18 in all (including Alaska, but not Hawaii!), plus a catch-all section to handle the "Eastern States" (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Virginia). Taking Arizona as an example to illustrate it's contents, it starts out with a color state map with shaded areas representing the areas to be discussed. Then each area (there are 22 of them) is described, starting with a more detailed map of the immediate vicinity. The description is extensive, usually taking about a page, and sometimes including a picture to give you an idea of the surroundings. For each area, the following subheadings are provided (this list might vary from area to area): Location, Description, Mailing Address, Phone/Fax Number, Directions, Visitor Activities, Permits/Fees/Limitations, Accessibility, Camping and Lodging, Food and Supplies, First Aid, Additional Information, and Sponsoring Partner. The Additional Information section discusses weather considerations, etc. Finally, there is a list of icons at the end of the description to summarize the types of activities you can look forward to (birding, hiking, boating, sightseeing, etc.). Since this is an official publication, of sorts, I presume the information is quite reliable. This is an engaging book, with useful treatments of the BLM areas.

This is a fabulous guide to the Bureau of Land Management public lands, published by the Smithsonian Institution in honor of the BLM's 50th anniversary this year. In my experience, even as an employee of another federal land management agency, it is tough to get good information on the public lands managed by the BLM - even their offices tend to be hard to locate. Hence my opinion is that this book is a FOUND TREASURE! of little-known places to go and things to do in the outdoors, including nature viewing, unparalleled outdoor recreation, historic sites, and fabulous prehistoric sites. Neither the Forest Service nor the Park Service have anything the BLM doesn't have, and the BLM is generally less crowded. If you feel like you've "been there, done that " on America's public lands - seen all the Parks, camped and hiked in all the Forests -then you need this book. You just won't believe what you've been missing. My only concern, and I haven't really had a chance to test it yet (I just found this book last week myself), is that the directions to some of the locations may be a bit sketchy. It may be a good idea to call the local office before you visit, you wouldn't want to get lost in some of the locations that are a long way from anywhere. There are a lot of summer vacations waiting in this book!