Gov. Cox denounces Sec. Haaland’s plan to relocate BLM headquarters to D.C.

McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area, BLM land just outside of Grand Junction, Colorado. Photo: Townlift

SALT LAKE CITY — Late last week, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, announced plans to move the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) headquarters back to Washington, D.C.

In 2020, the agency’s headquarters were moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, miles from the Utah border.

In a letter to Secretary Haaland, Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson denounced the move, calling it “the very worst of federal overreach and Beltway bureaucracy.”

They endorsed last year’s move to Grand Junction, saying BLM management was “drastically improved” by the switch.

BLM believes the move was largely a failure, because of the 328 positions that were moved out of D.C., only 41 people actually relocated.

“The Bureau of Land Management is critical to the nation’s efforts to address the climate crisis, expand public access to our public lands, and preserve our nation’s shared outdoor heritage. It is imperative that the bureau have the appropriate structure and resources to serve the American public,” said Secretary Haaland. “There’s no doubt that the BLM should have a leadership presence in Washington, D.C. – like all the other land management agencies – to ensure that it has access to the policy-, budget-, and decision-making levers to best carry out its mission. In addition, the BLM’s robust presence in Colorado and across the West will continue to grow.”

About 42 percent of Utah is BLM land (23 million acres). The vast majority of the agency’s land is in the western United States.

“The Administration’s decision is an affront to western states who have worked tirelessly with locally-based BLM personnel to better conserve and actively manage western landscapes in the face of drought, climate change, catastrophic wildfires, and other challenges,” the governor’s letter reads.

“While the creation of a new BLM Western headquarters in Colorado may be somewhat of an improvement over the pre-2020 status quo, the simple fact that over 99% of the BLM’s lands are located in the West demands that BLM senior leadership, including its director, be stationed full-time in the West. The BLM can remain fully engaged in the policy-, budget-, and decision-making levers of Washington, D.C., without removing its leadership far from the lands they oversee. 

“We urge the Administration to immediately reverse its decision and return BLM headquarters to the West. The health and success of the BLM’s lands depend on land managers who intimately understand the landscape and work in concert with states, tribes, and local communities to find that critical balance of multiple-use that protects the ecosystems and promotes healthy communities.”