Conservationists in Utah and across the West are praising the Biden administration’s nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning, a longtime veteran of the fight to preserve public lands, to lead the Bureau of Land Management.
"This is really vital for us to have somebody who can split the differences and be a collaborative partner in taking care of the landscapes of the West. It's something that's been missing in recent years," Brett Prettyman said.
Prettyman, director of the Utah Wildlife Federation, said after four years of B-L-M policies fashioned by oil-industry insiders, Stone-Manning is the right person at the right time.
Since 2017, Stone-Manning has served as senior advisor for Conservation Policy at the National Wildlife Federation. Prior to that, she was chief of staff for Montana Governor Steve Bullock and director of that state’s Department of Environmental Quality.
While Stone-Manning’s nomination has strong support among Democrats, she could face a fight with Senate Republicans for her opposition to moving B-L-M headquarters to Colorado and her call to block the nomination of her predecessor, oil industry attorney William Perry Pendley, to head the agency.
Prettyman believes Stone-Manning is well-suited to deal with public-land issues.
"Grazing is a very big issue in the West, and I think she's aware of that. She's been able to work on issues like that in the past,"he said. "And I feel like she's got a lot of experience that's going to help her represent interests for the BLM in Utah and across the West."
Prettyman said Stone-Manning’s history of collaboration will bring disparate groups and stakeholders together to determine the best way to manage the B-L-M’s 900 million acres of public land and water
