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More Changes In BLM Leadership, But Still No Director

The BLM manages more than 250 million acres across the American West.

In another shuffle of department leadership, the Bureau of Land Management has a new Deputy Director of Operations. The agency, along with the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, still await Senate-confirmed directors. 

This is just the latest in a series of leadership changes and shuffles at these land management agencies. John Leshy is a professor emeritus at the University of California-Hastings College of the Law.  

"The shuffling of positions and moving people around in a seemingly arbitrary way sends a terrible signal that we don’t respect what these government public servants do, that we don’t respect the operations of these agencies and we’d be just as happy to see many of them fail," says Leshy.  

The BLM said it is looking for a permanent director of operations and spoke highly of the staffer who will be filling the position in the interim.  

In addition to the vacant positions at the top of these agencies, several positions like State BLM directors have not been permanently filled since the start of the Trump Administration. 

Find reporter Amanda Peacher on Twitter @amandapeacher.

Copyright 2018 Boise State Public Radio

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Amanda Peacher works for the Mountain West News Bureau out of Boise State Public Radio. She's an Idaho native who returned home after a decade of living and reporting in Oregon. She's an award-winning reporter with a background in community engagement and investigative journalism.

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