The Alabama Hills are a range of hills and rock formations near the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in the Owens Valley , west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California .
60-708: Though geographically separate from the Sierra Nevada, they are part of the same geological formation. Beginning on May 24, 1969, the Alabama Hills were managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as the Alabama Hills Recreation Area. In March 2019, the U.S. Congress redesignated the area as the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area . The Alabama Hills serve as a gateway to Mount Whitney and
120-726: A Graboid underground monster from Tremors . Every Fall the Museum hosts the Lone Pine Film Festival , which bills itself as "the only film festival on location", because festival-goers watch films shot in the area and then take tours to see the very spots where the scenes were filmed. The Alabama Hills feature exceptional skies for Central California. It is Bortle class 2 or "average dark sky" site; this low level of light pollution meets or exceeds conditions in many of other popular nearby areas for amateur astronomy , such as Joshua Tree National Park (Bortle class 2–4). On
180-420: A band of reprobate outlaws who flee after a bank robbery and encounter an old man and his granddaughter in a ghost town . In 1867, a gang led by James "Stretch" Dawson ( Gregory Peck ) robs a bank and, chased by soldiers, choose to cross the salt flats of Death Valley . After an arduous journey, collapsing from heat and dehydration, the outlaws come upon a ghost town called Yellow Sky and its only residents,
240-409: A better impression on her. He assures her and Grandpa that he will keep to the bargain, swearing on a bible, with Dude eavesdropping. The next day, a large band of Apaches appear while the gang is at the mine digging up the gold. Grandpa tells Stretch that he convinced his Apache friends to return to the reservation and that he told them nothing about the gang. In gratitude for the old man not sending
300-562: A cameo from his friend, Buster Keaton . Since then, hundreds of movies have been filmed there, including: Gunga Din , The Walking Hills , Yellow Sky , Springfield Rifle , The Violent Men , Bad Day at Black Rock , the Budd Boetticher / Randolph Scott "Ranown" cycle, How the West Was Won , Joe Kidd , Saboteur , and Django Unchained , Tremors , Iron Man , and The Monolith Monsters . Among
360-698: A clear night with no moon, a visitor with good, dark-adapted vision may see the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies with the unaided eye; the central Milky Way appears highly structured under these conditions. Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management ( BLM ) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering U.S. federal lands . Headquartered in Washington, D.C. ,
420-520: A construction crew of over 150 men and women to build a ghost town in the desert near Lone Pine, California , by demolishing a movie set, called "Last Outpost", that Tom Mix had built in 1923. At the request of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the horses worked only three hours a day in the intense heat. The opening and closing music was taken from Alfred Newman 's score for
480-402: A more unified bureau mission and recognized the value of the remaining public lands by declaring that these lands would remain in public ownership. The law directed that these lands be managed with a view toward "multiple use" defined as "management of the public lands and their various resource values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of
540-614: A pilot project on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range known as the Adopt-A-Horse initiative. The program took advantage of provisions in the WFRHBA to allow private "qualified" individuals to "adopt" as many horses as they wanted if they could show that they could provide adequate care for the animals. At the time, title to the horses remained permanently with the federal government. The pilot project
600-513: A regular and recurring presence on a vast amount of public lands, roads and recreation sites. They focus on the protection of natural and cultural resources, other BLM employees and visitors. Given the many locations of BLM public lands, these rangers use canines, helicopters, snowmobiles, dirt bikes and boats to perform their duties. By contrast BLM special agents are criminal investigators who plan and conduct investigations concerning possible violations of criminal and administrative provisions of
660-413: A tough young woman called Mike ( Anne Baxter ) and her gold prospector grandfather ( James Barton ). Stretch is attracted to Mike. While the men recover from their ordeal at a spring, gambler Dude ( Richard Widmark ) snoops around. Dude tells the others that the old man is mining gold, but Stretch is unimpressed. The next day, Mike and Grandpa take to the hills. A confrontation between Stretch and Dude over
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#1732772533160720-505: Is 1,500 feet (460 meters) above the floor of Owens Valley . Gravity surveys indicate that the Owens Valley is filled with about 10,000 feet (3,000 m) of sediment and that the hills are the tip of a very steep escarpment. This feature was created by the same fault system as the 1872 Lone Pine earthquake which, in a single event, caused a vertical displacement of 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m). Dozens of natural arches are among
780-602: Is not protected by a national park or monument designation. The BLM's May 30, 2019 statement proposed an additional 183,668 acres on "lands managed by the Canyon Country, Color Country, Green River, and West Desert districts" that would be listed for the quarterly oil and gas lease sale on September 10, 2019. In their May 2019, September lease offerings, the BLM said that they had "245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states, including Alaska" and across
840-637: Is the SIG Sauer P320 chambered in 9mm which is replacing the SIG Sauer P226 /P229 both chambered in .40 S&W. The BLM manages free-roaming horses and burros on public lands in ten western states. Though they are feral , the agency is obligated to protect them under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA). As the horses have few natural predators, populations have grown substantially. WFRHBA as enacted provides for
900-540: Is the agency's largest ever purchase in the state. In 2024 the Department of the Interior has begun to advance a new rule according to which the Bureau of Land Management can distribute restoration leases and mitigation leases exactly in the same way as it distributes new leases for oil and gas drilling. The designed land will be used for nature conservation including use of indigenous knowledge. Established in 2000,
960-472: The Department of the Interior . It took several years for this new agency to integrate and reorganize. In the end, the Bureau of Land Management became less focused on land disposal and more focused on the long term management and preservation of the land. The agency achieved its current form by combining offices in the western states and creating a corresponding office for lands both east of and alongside
1020-557: The Eastern Sierra Nevada . While dispersed camping is very popular with the backpackers, car campers, and the RV community, the region's fragile ecosystem and increasing numbers of visitors prompted the Bureau of Land Management to discourage the practice, appealing that camping in campgrounds helps maintain the area's great scenery and recreational opportunities. The City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power lands in
1080-708: The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, the first of now 20 national monuments established on BLM lands and managed by the agency. The establishment of Grand Staircase–Escalante foreshadowed later creation of the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System in 2000. Use of the Antiquities Act authority, to the extent it effectively scuttled a coal mine to have been operated by Andalex Resources , delighted recreation and conservation enthusiasts but set up larger confrontations with state and local authorities. Under
1140-565: The Homestead Act of 1862 . Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska , Arizona , California , Colorado , Idaho , Montana , Nevada , New Mexico , Oregon , Utah , Washington and Wyoming . The mission of the BLM is "to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations." Originally BLM holdings were described as "land nobody wanted" because homesteaders had passed them by. All
1200-582: The Kearsarge . The Alabama Hills are a popular filming location for television and movie productions, especially Westerns set in an archetypical rugged, isolated milieu. The first known movies to be filmed there are the lost films Water, Water Everywhere and Cupid, the Cowpuncher , both shot in 1919 and released in early 1920. The oldest surviving film shot in the hills is The Round-Up (1920), starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle , which includes
1260-788: The Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. These laws provided for the survey and settlement of the lands that the original Thirteen Colonies ceded to the federal government after the American Revolution . As additional lands were acquired by the United States from Spain , France and other countries, the United States Congress directed that they be explored, surveyed, and made available for settlement. During
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#17327725331601320-702: The Mississippi River . As a matter of course, the BLM's emphasis fell on activities in the western states as most of the mining, land sales, and federally owned areas are located west of the Mississippi. BLM personnel on the ground have typically been oriented toward local interests, while bureau management in Washington are led by presidential guidance. By means of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, Congress created
1380-603: The National Landscape Conservation System is overseen by the BLM. The National Landscape Conservation System lands constitute just about 12% of the lands managed by the BLM. Congress passed Title II of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-11) to make the system a permanent part of the public lands protection system in the United States. By designating these areas for conservation,
1440-668: The Twentieth Century-Fox film Brigham Young (1940), which was also written by Trotti. Reviews praised the cinematography, direction, and screenplay. Christoper Tookey says "...a superior Western...Wellman's atmospheric direction (making effective use of natural sound) and Joseph's MacDonald's stark cinematography make it something special. Lamar Trotti's screenplay is one that could be usefully studied by aspiring screenwriters; it makes minimal use of dialogue, yet won an award from America's Writers Guild." Bosley Crowther wrote, "Guns blaze, fists fly and passions tangle in
1500-729: The United States General Land Office as part of the Department of the Treasury to oversee the disposition of these federal lands. By the early 1800s, promised bounty land claims were finally fulfilled. In the 19th century, other bounty land and homestead laws were enacted to dispose of federal land. Several different types of patents existed. These include cash entry, credit, homestead, Indian, military warrants, mineral certificates, private land claims, railroads, state selections, swamps, town sites, and town lots. A system of local land offices spread throughout
1560-459: The Alabama Hills contrast with the sharp ridges of the Sierra Nevada to the west. Though this might suggest that they formed from a different rock, the Sierra Nevada peaks that loom above the hills are also formed from monzogranite . The difference in shape and color can be accounted for by a difference in weathering . Mount Whitney , the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States , towers nine thousand feet above this low range, which itself
1620-571: The American people." Since the Reagan administration in the 1980s, Republicans have often given priority to local control and to grazing, mining and petroleum production, while Democrats have more often emphasized environmental concerns even when granting mining and drilling leases. In September 1996, then President Bill Clinton used his authority under the Antiquities Act to establish
1680-503: The BLM and other statutes under the United States Code. Special agents are normally plain clothes officers who carry concealed firearms and other defensive equipment, make arrests, carry out complex criminal investigations, present cases for prosecution to local United States Attorneys and prepare investigative reports. Criminal investigators occasionally conduct internal and civil claim investigations. The current sidearm
1740-605: The BLM oversees more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km ) of land, or one-eighth of the United States's total landmass. The Bureau was created by Congress during the presidency of Harry S. Truman in 1946 by combining two existing agencies: the United States General Land Office and the Grazing Service . The agency manages the federal government's nearly 700 million acres (2,800,000 km ) of subsurface mineral estate located beneath federal, state and private lands severed from their surface rights by
1800-633: The Biden administration, the BLM is working on a pilot project called "outcomes-based grazing", to see if cattle grazing can help achieve conservation, agency director Tracy Stone-Manning said in an interview published in April 2022. In June 2022, the BLM finalized two acquisitions in Colorado and Wyoming, acquiring over 40,000 acres of previously inaccessible land. The acquisition in Wyoming for 35,670 acres
1860-478: The Indians to wipe out his gang, Stretch tells his men that they will share the gold, but Dude has convinced them to join him against Stretch and take all of the gold. Dude draws his gun and fires on Stretch. A shootout amongst the rocks ensues with the gang against Stretch. Mike shows up and helps a wounded Stretch back to her home. Not wanting to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders for Stretch,
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1920-536: The National Conservation Lands include nearly 2,400 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers , and nearly 6,000 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails . There are more than 63,000 oil and gas wells on BLM public lands. Total energy leases generated approximately $ 5.4 billion in 2013, an amount divided among the Treasury , the states, and Native American groups. The BLM's roots go back to
1980-568: The National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund each year for five years for needed maintenance for critical facilities and infrastructure in national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, recreation areas and American Indian schools. The Act also committed $ 900 million a year in royalties from offshore oil and natural gas to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund investments in conservation and recreation opportunities across
2040-570: The Revolutionary War, military bounty land was promised to soldiers who fought for the colonies. After the war, the Treaty of Paris of 1783 , signed by the United States, the UK , France , and Spain , ceded territory to the United States. In the 1780s, other states relinquished their own claims to land in modern-day Ohio . By this time, the United States needed revenue to function and land
2100-609: The Trump administration, the BLM offered millions of acres of available Federal lands for 10-year leases for commercial development, potentially in oil and gas and mining, with the stated goal of "promoting American energy security". The BLM holds quarterly oil and gas lease sales. According to a June 18, 2018 article in The Atlantic , under the tenure of then- United States Secretary of the Interior , Ryan Zinke "practically gave away hundreds of thousands of acres of open land across
2160-561: The United States another "700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate" is under their management. The statement also said that these "diverse activities authorized on these lands generated $ 96 billion in sales of goods and services throughout the American economy in fiscal year 2017" while supporting over 468,000 jobs". On August 4, 2020, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act into law, committing up to $ 1.9 billion from energy development revenues to
2220-803: The United States. There are several herds of horses and burros roaming free on 26.9 million acres of range spread out in ten western states. It is essential to maintain a balance that keeps herd management land and animal population healthy. Some programs and partnerships include the Mustang Heritage Foundation, U.S. Border Patrol, Idaho 4H, Napa Mustang Days and Little Book Cliffs Darting Team. These partnerships help with adoption and animal population as well as education and raising awareness about wild horses and burros. In 2009, BLM opened Renewable Energy Coordination Offices in order to approve and oversee wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal projects on BLM-managed lands. The offices were located in
2280-799: The West, leasing it to energy companies for pennies on the dollar." The Salt Lake Tribune reported that in March 2019, the price per acre for leases near the Golden Spike National Historical Park , in Utah were "$ 1.50 an acre for the next two years". By September 11, 2018, the Department of Interior was offering 2.9 million acres to be leased to commercial operations including drilling for oil and gas and mining in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and other states where public land
2340-418: The area are open for day use only." Two main types of rock are exposed at the Alabama Hills, an orange, drab weathered metamorphosed volcanic rock that is 150–200 million years old, and an 85-million-year-old biotite monzogranite which weathers to large roundish boulders, many of which stand on end due to spheroidal weathering acting on many nearly vertical joints in the rock. The rounded contours of
2400-468: The best of the genre. The high-contrast black-and-white photography is stunning...Dialogue is all the more telling for being sparse, the story is carried visually. The music is fine, beginning the action of each scene, then fading as stark realism takes hold and natural sounds are heard." Burnett published his novel in 1950 as Stretch Dawson . The success of the film spawned a radio adaptation starring Peck and hosted by director William A. Wellman, which
2460-436: The best realistic Western style. William A. Wellman has directed for steel-spring tension from the beginning to the end." The story is kept "on the surface level of action and partly contrived romance. At this popular level they have made it tough, taut and good...it's classy and exciting while it lasts" TV Guide writes, "The unlikely ending doesn't injure this brilliantly filmed and directed Western, which qualifies as one of
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2520-454: The country. Also in August 2020, the BLM headquarters was relocated to Grand Junction, Colorado , by an order signed by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt . The relocation was praised by Republican Western politicians but criticized by Democrats as a move to weaken the agency through the loss of experienced staffers, who opted to stay in Washington, D.C. Some ranchers were concerned about
2580-508: The early successes of the adoption program, the BLM has struggled to maintain acceptable herd levels, as without natural predators, herd sizes can double every four years. As of 2014, there were more than 49,000 horses and burros on BLM-managed land, exceeding the BLM's estimated "appropriate management level" (AML) by almost 22,500. The Bureau of Land Management has implemented several programs and has developed partnerships as part of their management plan for preserving wild burros and horses in
2640-445: The four states where energy companies had shown the greatest interest in renewable energy development: Arizona , California , Nevada , and Wyoming . Yellow Sky Yellow Sky is a 1948 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Gregory Peck , Richard Widmark , and Anne Baxter . The story is believed to be loosely adapted from William Shakespeare 's The Tempest . The screenplay concerns
2700-414: The gang surrounds the house. In the ensuing gunfight they think that Stretch has been killed. Dude wants all the gold for himself and shoots at Lengthy, but misses. Bull Run is also shot and fatally wounded by Dude and so Walrus ( Charles Kemper ) and Half Pint ( Harry Morgan ) decide to help Stretch. Stretch goes after Dude and Lengthy, who have gone into the town to escape. A deadly three-sided shootout in
2760-440: The isolation of Grand Junction compared to other Western cities, having limited flights and road access. After the announcement, 87% of D.C.-based employees left, prompting former lead career BLM official Steve Ellis to state "the bureau lost a tremendous amount of expertise...[of] very seasoned people." On September 17, 2021, Secretary Deb Haaland announced that the headquarters would be moved back to Washington, D.C. Under
2820-869: The law directed the BLM to ensure these places are protected for future generations, similar to national parks and wildlife refuges . Source: BLM Resources and Statistics The BLM, through its Office of Law Enforcement & Security, functions as a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Government. BLM law enforcement rangers and special agents receive their training through Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC). Full-time staffing for these positions approaches 300. Uniformed rangers enforce laws and regulations governing BLM lands and resources. As part of that mission, these BLM rangers carry firearms and defensive equipment, make arrests, execute search warrants, complete reports and testify in court. They seek to establish
2880-578: The leadership of the gang is interrupted by Mike shooting at them. However, when Grandpa is hit in the leg by a ricochet , Mike surrenders. Back in the house, Grandpa is persuaded into a deal to split his gold, worth roughly $ 50,000 by his estimate. At the spring, Lengthy ( John Russell ) grabs Mike, forcing himself on her. the young Bull Run ( Robert Arthur ) intervenes to protect her and Lengthy holds him underwater. Stretch rescues him and holds Lengthy's head underwater until he nearly drowns. That night, Stretch approaches Mike again, this time cleaned up to make
2940-848: The main attractions at the Alabama Hills. They can be accessed by short hikes from the Whitney Portal Road, the Movie Flat Road and the Horseshoe Meadows Road. Among the notable features of the area are: Mobius Arch , Lathe Arch, the Eye of Alabama and Whitney Portal Arch. The Alabama Hills were named for the CSS Alabama , a Confederate warship deployed during the American Civil War . When news of
3000-467: The public rangelands by establishment of advisory boards that set grazing fees. The Oregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937, commonly referred as the O&;C Act, required sustained yield management of the timberlands in western Oregon. In 1946, the Grazing Service was merged with the United States General Land Office to form the Bureau of Land Management within
3060-610: The removal of excess animals; the killing of lame, old, or sick animals; the private placement or adoption of excess animals; and even the killing of healthy animals if range management required it. The killing of healthy or unhealthy horses has almost never occurred. Pursuant to the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978 , the BLM has established 179 "herd management areas" (HMAs) covering 31.6 million acres (128,000 km ) acres where feral horses can be found on federal lands. In 1973, BLM began
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#17327725331603120-464: The saloon follows. A frantic Mike finds Dude and Lengthy dead inside and Stretch unconscious but still breathing. After Stretch recovers, he, Walrus and Half Pint, who is now wearing Dude's clothes, return to the bank they robbed and give back the stolen money. Then, they ride off with Mike and Grandpa. The studio purchased W. R. Burnett 's unpublished novel for $ 35,000 in November 1947. All drafts of
3180-602: The same, ranchers hold nearly 18,000 permits and leases for livestock grazing on 155 million acres (630,000 km ) of BLM public lands. The agency manages 221 wilderness areas , 29 national monuments and some 636 other protected areas as part of the National Conservation Lands (formerly known as the National Landscape Conservation System), totaling about 36 million acres (150,000 km ). In addition
3240-507: The screenplay were written by Lamar Trotti . In a memo, studio head Darryl F. Zanuck suggested Walter Huston for the role of Grandpa and Fred Clark for Lengthy. Paulette Goddard was originally cast as Mike. Exteriors were also filmed at Death Valley National Monument , with the cast and crew living at Furnace Creek Inn and Camp , which was leased from the Pacific Coast Borax Company . The western commenced
3300-692: The ship's exploits reached prospectors in California sympathetic to the Confederates, they named many mining claims after the ship, and the name came to be applied to the entire range. When the Alabama was finally sunk off the coast of Normandy by the USS Kearsarge in 1864, prospectors sympathetic to the Union named a mining district , a mountain pass , a mountain peak , and a town after
3360-703: The television shows that have been shot there are The Gene Autry Show , The Lone Ranger , Bonanza , and Annie Oakley . In Lone Pine , the closest town to the Alabama Hills, the Lone Pine Film History Museum explores the area's relationship to the art of cinema. Exhibits include the Dr. King Schultz dentist wagon from Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained , the 1937 Plymouth Humphrey Bogart drove in Raoul Walsh's High Sierra . and
3420-638: The territories, patenting land that was surveyed via the corresponding Office of the Surveyor General of a particular territory. This pattern gradually spread across the entire United States. The laws that spurred this system with the exception of the General Mining Law of 1872 and the Desert Land Act of 1877 have since been repealed or superseded. In the early 20th century, Congress took additional steps toward recognizing
3480-399: The value of the assets on public lands and directed the Executive Branch to manage activities on the remaining public lands. The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 allowed leasing, exploration, and production of selected commodities, such as coal , oil , gas , and sodium to take place on public lands. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 established the United States Grazing Service to manage
3540-457: Was so successful that BLM allowed it to go nationwide in 1976. The Adopt-a-Horse program quickly became the primary method of removing excess feral horses from BLM land given the lack of other viable methods. The BLM also uses limited amounts of contraceptives in the herd, in the form of PZP vaccinations; advocates say that additional use of these vaccines would help to diminish the excess number of horses currently under BLM management. Despite
3600-420: Was sold as a source of income for the government. In order to sell the land, surveys needed to be conducted. The Land Ordinance of 1785 instructed a geographer to oversee this work as undertaken by a group of surveyors. The first years of surveying were completed by trial and error; once the territory of Ohio had been surveyed, a modern public land survey system had been developed. In 1812, Congress established
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