bureau of land management set for headquarters move to colorado

After months of speculation, the Department of the Interior has announced that it is relocating the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management from Washington to Colorado.

More specially, the agency’s main office will be centered in Grand Junction, a move that BLM officials say will allow for greater communication with the communities it serves.

“Nine-nine percent of the land the BLM manages is west of the Mississippi River, and so should be the BLM headquarters,” said Colorado Senator Cory Gardner upon the announcement of the move.

“This is a victory for local communities, advocates for public lands, and proponents for a more responsible and accountable federal government,” added Gardner, who introduced legislation in 2018 calling for the move.

The relocation has won the support of Colorado Governor Jared Polis who remarked: “Grand Junction is the perfect location for the BLM because of community support, location closer to the land BLM manages, and the positive impact it will have on our western Colorado economy.”

Where exactly in Grand Junction the BLM will open its new headquarters has not yet been announced. But Grand Junction officials have earlier indicated that they think the agency may at least initially upgrade an existing office structure for its purposes.

It is also possible that the BLM may build an entirely new facility, mostly likely in downtown Grand Junction, officials says.

Signed into law in 1946 by President Harry Truman, the Bureau of Land Management oversees nearly 250 million acres of public lands, the majority of which are located in the West, including Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.

By Garry Boulard

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