Idaho’s state director for the Bureau of Land Management is now running the daily operations for the entire federal agency. Steve Ellis is in Washington D.C. temporarily serving as acting deputy director.
It’s a job he did for a few weeks back in 2011. This time around, Ellis will be in the agency’s number two position until November.
His temporary home is an apartment in Arlington, VA., far away from his family and horses back in Boise. “I’ve had to get used to taking the subway to work again,” he chuckles over the phone in a recent interview.
He hasn’t had much free time since starting his new role last week. But over the weekend, he paid a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. That’s where his daughter Jessica Ellis is buried.
She was killed in 2008 during Operation Iraqi Freedom while serving in the U.S. Army. Usually, Ellis visits her resting place in the cemetery a couple of times a year. “At least while I’m back here I can keep the flowers fresh.”
But Ellis' days are packed with juggling visits to Capitol Hill (he was on the Hill his first day on the job), with everything from budget issues to oil and gas. “And of course the sage grouse issue which I was very familiar with my job there in Idaho.”
The greater sage grouse are found throughout much of the West including in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. They aren’t listed as an endangered species, but their numbers have steadily declined because of several threats like habitat loss and wildfire.
“We do not want that bird to be listed,” says Ellis. “We want to continue to have it managed by the states.” Ellis says the future of the birds is one of “our big challenges” facing the agency, that, along with shrinking declining budgets.
Idaho will release alternatives to listing the sage grouse as an endangered species at the end of September, and so will other western states. Meanwhile, Ellis says he has to see this issue– along with many others – through a national lens.
The deputy director's chair has been vacant for a while and the BLM also doesn't have a director. That position is a political appointment. Idaho Statesman reporter Rocky Barker recently wrote the “temporary shifts are the result of the lack of a permanent director for the agency."
"Principal Deputy Director Neil Kornze, is the acting director. He tapped Ellis, who has been at the center of several major BLM controversies including the Gateway Transmission route review and the Owyhee grazing permit approval process. 'Over the past several months, I have come to rely on Steve’s expertise and leadership, and I know he will make a great addition to the team here in D.C,' Kornze said." -- Idaho Statesman
Ellis’ background with wildfires has already come in handy. Last week he received a briefing on the West’s wildfires. “From this chair we have to look in terms of the resources,” he explains. That means staying in contact with the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise where air tankers and crews get deployed to fight wildfires.
When it comes to fire season, Ellis says “we always have to be looking ahead.” And that means sending resources where fires might develop such as the Northern Rockies later this year. Eight-nine (according to Inciweb) wildfires are currently burning throughout the West including Alaska.
Ellis says he has a lot of confidence in the man who’s filling in for him back in Idaho. Tim Murphy is the acting state director for the BLM. He comes from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. Ellis says he plans to return to Boise when his 120 day appointment is up.
Copyright 2013 Boise State Public Radio
