First, it is an honor for me to be confirmed as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.  Having worked in the BLM for 25 years prior to my retirement in 2005, I am well aware of the personal sacrifices that many of you are making as we strive to meet mission goals and the public’s expectations.  I am grateful for your service and proud of our agency and the work we do.  I look forward to working with you.

Secondly, I deeply appreciate both Nevada State Director Ron Wenker and California State Director Mike Pool, who served admirably as acting director, and Mike Nedd who provided valuable assistance as the acting deputy director during this transitional period.  These employees served with distinction and each provided the leadership that was required to keep the BLM moving forward during challenging times.  I especially want to acknowledge Mike Pool’s willingness to spend long periods away from his family and friends in California while serving in Washington, D.C.  I am pleased to report that he has agreed to stay on as acting Deputy Director for Operations until a permanent selection is made.  His continued presence in Washington will be an asset to all of us, and I look forward to working with him and with all members of the BLM’s Executive Leadership Team as we do our very best to serve employees and public land stakeholders.

As BLM employees, each of us serves an important role in keeping our local and national economies strong while assuring the sustainability and ecological health of our nation’s natural and cultural resources.  These are exciting times for us, and I do not want to let the people down who are dependent on our ability to do our jobs.  During my confirmation hearing, I acknowledged the inherent challenges of managing public lands for multiple uses.  I stated that we have allowed differences of opinions about the
management of these national assets to create divisiveness with public land stakeholders and interest groups.  While I acknowledged that valid reasons exist for some of our differences, I also told the Senate Committee that we have much in common regarding how public lands should be managed.  During the coming months, we will move aggressively to work with our many partners to achieve our common goals while we continue discussions on the issues where we might disagree.

Yet, if we are to be successful, we will have to improve current administrative processes and become more efficient so employees are freed to perform the job we are hired to do.  While advocating the need for greater efficiencies, I fully understand that operating freedom and risk-taking do not preclude the need for accountability and absolute
integrity.  The BLM has a stated mission, a strategic plan, and program priorities that dictate what work will be done.  There are laws and policies that define the boundaries of operations.  While we will operate within the parameters of law, we will depart as necessary from traditional ways we have done business by refusing to be stymied by bureaucratic processes that add little organizational value.  I look forward to evaluating how best to do this.

Our emphasis will be on outcomes and not outputs.  Employees will be evaluated on whether we are contributing towards organizational success by fulfilling our mission and annual work plan commitments in a timely manner. We will aim high, going after accomplishments that will make a difference, rather than seeking a safer path that leads to mediocrity.  We will strive to do the right thing the first time and eliminate the high cost associated with poor quality.  And, we will take risks.

I learned long ago that rarely are there perfect decisions when addressing the complexities of our programs and perceived inconsistencies in our mission.  The best decisions are usually the more prudent of the logical alternatives.  We will use our best judgment and formulate our decisions on the best available information realizing that every decision we make involves some risk.  We should not be afraid of making mistakes because doing nothing in pursuit of the right goals is often times worse than making a mistake.  Our success will be based on our ability to deal with adversity and to overcome any mistakes we might make.  We have always done this, and we will continue to do so.

As we close out this fiscal year and we prepare for fiscal year 2010, I do not want us to lose sight of the need to improve the organizational climate for employees.  Like most of you, I want to work in an organization where employees are proud and committed; where all employees have an opportunity to contribute, learn, grow, and advance based on merit.  I want employees to feel respected, treated fairly, listened to, and involved.  I want our actions to reflect our rhetoric so that people will once again come to trust their leadership and believe that our words mean something.  Above all, I want all employees to derive satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives, and to have fun in our endeavors.  When we describe today’s BLM, we are talking about building on the foundation we have inherited, affirming the best of our agency’s traditions, and eliminating the organizational barriers that stand in the way of effective public service.

As your Director, I want us to be the very best that we can be, and my expectations are high.  It is time that we quit spending most of our time talking about actions we should be taking and begin taking these actions. I look forward to working with each of you as we demonstrate to all that we are worthy of the trust the public has placed on our shoulders in managing their resources.