Bureau of Land Management to move out West from D.C.

Grand Junction, Colo., is the suggested location. (MapQuest image)

The Bureau of Land Management is going to move its office from Washington, D.C., to somewhere in the Western U.S., Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said last week, speaking by hookup from the White House to attendees at a Western-issues forum at Colorado Mesa University, Gary Harmon reports for the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, Colo. Most of the 245 million acres the bureau manages is in 12 Western states, Harmon notes.

Rep. Scott Tipton and Sen. Cory Gardner, both Colorado Republicans, were at the forum and hailed the announcement. Both have offered bills to move the BLM headquarters to a Western state. Though the new headquarters site hasn't been selected, the two have asked that it move to Grand Junction.

The agency has allocated money in its 2019 budget to begin the process of selecting a new location and moving. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is also looking for ways to reorganize other agencies with land-management responsibilities, such as the Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Reclamation, Bernhardt said.