Group of people sitting in chairs behind tables listening to presentation in a National Training Center classroom with a large mural on the wall of a southwest landscape featuring a deer.

About the National Training Center

The BLM's National Training Center in Arizona, a comprehensive employee development program, started as a small Lands and Minerals School in the 1960s.

Under the leadership of Tom Owen, students were trained by adjudicating actual Arizona lands and mineral cases during an initial 6-week training program. Over the next few years, additional courses were added to the curriculum, and the training model that the BLM uses today was adopted - to train employees through the expertise of working BLM professionals and subject matter specialists from other agencies, private industry and academic institutions. 

The BLM's first Lands and Minerals Class in the Winter of 1969. BLM photo.
The BLM's first Lands and Minerals Class in the Winter of 1969. BLM photo.

Today the National Training Center provides instructor-led training, distant learning courses and other learning opportunities and services to agency employees, partners and contractors. The curriculum covers renewable and non-renewable resource management programs, planning and business management, engineering, safety, information technology and more. This professional development prepares employees and public collaborators to support the BLM's mission.

The training facility includes technically-fitted classrooms and an auditorium for meetings and conferences in an environment conducive to higher learning.  The classroom and conference facilities can be reserved for use on a space availability basis by BLM offices and other agencies, organizations and institutions.