The Trump administration reassigned several top-level employees in its reorganization of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The New Mexico State Director for the Bureau of Land Management, Amy Lueders, whose background is in economics, is also being reassigned to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
In a state like New Mexico, with more than 20 American Indian tribes, vast tracts of public lands, federal water projects, myriad endangered species issues, large-scale oil and gas development and existing and proposed mines on public lands, the staffing changes—and what they signal— could have deep and long-lasting effects on the state’s landscapes, communities and future.
During a Senate subcommittee hearing last week, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall questioned Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke about the staffing changes, slated to take place at the end of June.
In the southwestern United States, the agency has also worked extensively on planning for future water scarcity.
Recently, for example, the agency studied how the Upper Rio Grande Basin is likely to be affected by climate change.
BLM’s cuts and baskets Within the Interior Department, one agency slated for targeted changes is the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees 13 million acres in New Mexico.
Restoring sovereignty, according to the document, would come from “effective management of the borderlands” in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense.
“The agency is shrinking even though its responsibilities haven’t decreased, if anything it’s gotten greater.” Ruch also said that Nedd’s Q&A document is asking employees to undertake new responsibilities that are beyond the agency’s mandate.
But to Interior Department employees who are worried about their jobs and programs, Ruch suggests taking a deep breath.