NEWS ABOUT PEOPLE
Charles
Stoddard to be Inducted into Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame—March 23, 2009
Charles Stoddard, former BLM Director, will
be inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame on April 18, 2009 in
Stevens Point. For further information
concerning this honor go to their web site:
www.wchf.org/news.html
Karl
Landstom Celebrates his 100th Birthday –February 13, 2009
Former BLM Director Karl Landstrom’s 100th
Birthday: On February 12, 2009, a group of
retired BLM folks gathered in Falls
Church, Virginia to wish former BLM Director Karl Landstrom a happy 100th
birthday. Following is a brief biographical
sketch of Karl. Karl had a big birthday
cake served to all and he told us a few more of his historic stories and all
had a good time.
Born in Lebanon,
Oregon, Karl S. Landstrom received the degree of MA in economics from the
University of Oregon in 1932. He began his government career in 1935 as a
reserve Army officer assigned to the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Pacific
Northeast. He continued in 1937 as an agricultural economist in the Department
of Agriculture, working on land economics studies in the Western states. After
military service in World War II, he continued with land economics research in
Oregon and Washington, joining BLM in 1949 as chief of land use planning in its
Pacific Northwest region
In 1952 Mr. Landstrom
was transferred to the bureau's Washington D.C. office working on program
planning, land classification and land appraisals. He received his law degree
from the George Washington University in 1958.
In 1959-60 he served as
a legislative consultant to the House Committee on Interior and Insular
Affairs. Karl then became one of the few career, non-political BLM Directors
during the period 1961-1963.
Landstrom was appointed as assistant to the Secretary of the Interior
for land utilization; and from 1966 until 1968 he served as the Department’s
member on the Public Land Law Review Commission’s Advisory Council.
Mr. Landstrom retired
from government service is 1970. He is retired also from the Army of the United
States (colonel, AUS-retired.). In 1971-74 he was a registered lobbyist. From
1975 until 1995 he served on call as an administrative law-hearing officer for
the State of Virginia. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Legion,
the 70th Infantry Division Association, and the Civil Affairs Association, and
a Charter Member of the Public Lands Foundation, and is a retired member of the
Virginia and District of Columbia bars.
Although Karl retired on paper he continues to this day to be active in
natural resources and other public issues.
Often one can read his letters to the Editor in the Washington Post
calling attention to faulty Congressional action or on talk radio expounding
the true facts of a public issue.
Through his career with
BLM and the Department of Interior, Karl has been a man of uncompromising
integrity. As BLM Director, Karl
established firm principals but with a light touch. He led BLM to implementing
President Kennedy’s Special Message to Congress in 1961 calling for improved
resource management of the public lands. It was through Karl’s leadership that
many obsolete public land laws were repealed; the Multiple Use Land
Classification Act became law and the formation of the Public Land Law Review
Commission, which culminated in passage of the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act in 1976. He was the ultimate example of a career public servant
who earned his way up the ranks through integrity, leadership, and intelligence
and to always put the public interest in the forefront of his decision-making.
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Director Caswell’s
Farewell Message – January 16, 2009
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 enerations to come.
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Photo
of Director and BLM’s New Public Land System Sign – January 8, 2008
Here is a photo of the unveiling of the sign showing BLM's new
public land system on Thursday
1/8/2009. This is the result of the
Secretarial Order signed recently by Interior Secretary Kempthorne. We believe the establishment of the National
System of Public Lands will go a long way in informing the public and members
of Congress that the public lands BLM manages are an important system of lands worthy of protecting, conserving and
sustaining under professional management.
To the right in the picture is Director Jim Caswell and on the left is
Eastern States State Director Juan Palma. George
Ron Dunton Promoted in NIFC -- July 11, 2008
I am pleased to announce that Ron Dunton will be taking on the Division Chief position for Fire Planning and Fuels Management at BLM Fire and Aviation – NIFC. Ron has assembled a tremendous depth and scope of experience and capability across all aspects of fire management, as well as renewable, cultural, and non-renewable resource management. Ron began his career in 1969 in the fire program at the Fairbanks District. He was a principle contributor to standing-up the Alaska Fire Service and held 3 Division Chief positions there; Division of Aviation; Division of smokejumpers, hotshots, and training; Division of Fire Operations. Ron served as the BLM – NM, TX, OK State FMO before entering line management at the Carlsbad and Socorro RAs. From these line positions Ron moved to Boise as the Division Chief for fire operations, prescribed fire, and fire planning. While at NIFC, Ron was BLM’s representative on the National Multi-Agency Coordination group. Currently, Ron is on detail from his job as the DSD-Resources at BLM - NM, TX, OK in order to serve as the Director, DOI-Office of Wildland Fire Coordination. We look forward to Ron’s arrival at BLM Fire and Aviation. Please, join me in congratulating Ron as he prepares for his new assignment. Tim Murphy Deputy Assistant Director (NIFC) BLM-Fire and Aviation Directorate National Interagency Fire Center
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