I want to take just a few moments of your time to express my appreciation to each of you for the support you've given me as your Director.

My tenure here, which began in August 2007, has without a doubt been the highlight of my 40-plus years in public service, and I have you to thank for that.  Your warm welcome when I came on board, your sound advice, patience, and hard work as I settled into the job, your support during my bout with cancer, and now your kind farewells as I leave Washington, D.C., have made this an extraordinary experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. This is a bittersweet time for me as I say goodbye while looking back with pride on what the BLM has accomplished during my short time here.  Those achievements include the implementation of the Healthy Lands Initiative; the completion of high-profile land-use plans that involved extensive public participation; our agency's support for renewable energy development (particularly wind, solar, and geothermal) through detailed work on environmental impact statements; and the completion of regulations for commercial oil shale development.  I am gratified, too, that I could fulfill one of my top goals as your Director -- that of providing, for the first time, an official name for BLM-managed lands.  This new designation -- the National System of Public Lands -- is fitting for the 258 million acres under BLM management that until now have lacked a formal title worthy of their recreational, cultural, economic, and environmental value.

Thank you again for making my experience here so productive, enjoyable, and memorable.  I wish you all the very best as you transition into a new administration while continuing your "true north" mission: ensuring the health and productivity of America's public lands, both now and in the generations to come.