Bureau of Land Management to move headquarters from DC to Colorado

Source: The Hill | July 16, 2019 | Miranda Green and Rebecca Beitsch

The Trump administration plans to relocate the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from Washington, D.C., to Colorado, according to two lawmakers.

The reorganization, first considered under former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, is aimed at putting more agency officials closer to the lands they manage out West, though critics have questioned moving tenured policy officials far from the nation’s capital.

Currently only about 4 percent of BLM employees live in D.C., but the proposal would shrink that number even further, leaving just 60 of the nearly 400 BLM employees in the nation’s capital, according to a letter from Interior to a Republican lawmaker dated Tuesday, obtained by The Hill.

Just 27 employees will be moved to the new headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo., with the rest divided among the western states of Utah, Nevada and other existing local offices, according to the document.

Since BLM has nearly 10,000 employees, the reorganization plans would effectively move the agency entirely out of D.C.

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R) confirmed the headquarters move on Monday, calling it a “significant win” for his state.

“This means that people will be able to have greater say, greater impact on public lands decisions that affect their community,” Gardner said in a video he tweeted.

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