The Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) confirmed that it will move its headquarters out of Washington, DC to Grand Junction, CO.
In a conference call on July 16, Joe Balash, assistant secretary for Land and Minerals Management said that of the 388 positions currently in Washington DC, 27 will be relocated to Grand Junction. He added that 74 positions will be reallocated to state offices and 61 will remain in Washington. Currently, 166 positions that report to Washington headquarters are already in field offices.
Balash said the BLM will see significant savings by relocating out of the Washington DC area and that it makes sense to have headquarters in the west.
The move is win for Colorado’s western slope, said. U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner.
“Today is a historic day for our nation’s public lands, western states, and the people of Colorado,” said Gardner, a Yuma Republican, in a press release. “Relocating the Bureau of Land Management to the Western Slope of Colorado will bring the bureau’s decision makers closer to the people they serve and the public lands they manage.”
Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said in a statement, “A meaningful realignment of our operations is not simply about where functions are performed; rather, it is rooted in how changes will better respond to the needs of the American people. Under our proposal, every Western state will gain additional staff resources. This approach will play an invaluable role in serving the American people more efficiently while also advancing the Bureau of Land Management’s multiple-use mission. Shifting critical leadership positions and supporting staff to western states — where an overwhelming majority of federal lands are located — is not only a better management system, it is beneficial to the interest of the American public in these communities, cities, counties and states.”
Source : me.smenet.org