The US Forest Service (USFS), an agency of the Department of Agriculture, is responsible for the wise use of the nation's forested lands. National Forests are managed for a variety of services and products: timber, range, outdoor recreation, watersheds, fish and wildlife. The Forest Service strives to conserve resources and to sustain the yield of forest products and services indefinitely. There are 14 National Forests completely or partially in Idaho, totaling more than 28 million acres.

The National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, manages four areas in Idaho: Craters of the Moon National Monument, Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Nez Perce National Historical Park, and City of Rocks National Reserve (more than 66,000 acres in all). It is the NPS mission to preserve and protect wildlife and other park resources, while encouraging visitors to use and enjoy the parks. Because the emphasis in National Parks is on preservation, rather than conservation of resources, activities which are permitted on other federal lands are prohibited in most parks and monuments: hunting, trapping, grazing, mining, logging, and others.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency of the Department of the Interior, controls lands not suitable for agriculture or inclusion in National Parks or Forests. In Idaho more than 22% of the state (12 million acres of land) is under BLM jurisdiction. Like the Forest Service, the BLM emphasizes multiple uses of the land. Livestock grazing and outdoor recreation are predominant on BLM lands.

1. Break the class into 3 groups. Then assign each group to contact an office of either the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, or the National Park Service to acquire answers to the following set of questions. The students may request written information and/or interview an agency representative. Alternatively, they may conduct research in the school or town library to find pertinent information. They will use the information they gather to prepare an oral presentation on the policies of their agency for the rest of the class.

2. Once students have completed gathering information, have each work group prepare a 10 minute presentation for the class. In order to ensure everyone's participation, you may divide the questions evenly among group members and have each person responsible for researching and presenting their subset of questions.

3. Following the presentations, lead a discussion on the similarities and differences in wildlife management between agencies. Which approach do they believe to be most valuable? Do they think the National Park Service is correct in prohibiting certain activities in parks?