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The National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) is a magnificent outdoor laboratory for the BLM and researchers with its wide and astounding array of opportunities for cultural and natural science projects. There is enormous potential to apply understanding gained from science conducted on NLCS units to other BLM public lands, allowing NLCS to function as an outdoor laboratory for the integration of science and best-management practices. As an outdoor classroom, the NLCS can also open the doors of curiosity for youth and expose them to an array of astonishing opportunities. More than ever, a connection with the land will be critical to the public’s view of the BLM in the next century. Never have such complex issues faced the Bureau of Land Management and with the codification of the NLCS through the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (P.L.111-11), there are new possibilities to explore the landscapes and to explore the meanings and methods of conservation. BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System has burgeoned as a location for active scientific research traversing an eclectic array of disciplines and topics. Research in over a dozen major disciplines reveals remarkable mysteries awaiting understanding. A cache of weird and wonderful knowledge beckons future scrutiny and the collection of scientific projects for 2008 from within the NLCS entices scientists, managers, and the public to better understand the treasures and discoveries of the newest national conservation system, the NLCS. In 2008 almost 300 projects occurred just within the 37 Monuments, National Conservation Areas, and other congressionally designated conservation areas.