As BLM builds western directorate Earth haters turn on Director Stone-Manning

Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning has called nearly every Trump era ruling illegal including its failure to manage mustangs safely while blows to morale and an exodus of employees have contributed to horse mortalities during gathers. So, a year ago Interior Secretary Deb Haaland released the outline for a restructured BLM promising to return its main headquarters to DC while increasing its role in the Mountain West by improving a demoralized Grand Junction, Colorado presence.

Stone-Manning said the Grand Junction office will include a new Senior Executive Service position who will work closely with her and other top-level BLM staff as a liaison in the West “to ensure we are meeting our commitment to capitalize on the benefits of having leadership in the West that can engage frequently with stakeholders and reinforce the Western, on-the-ground perspective as a part of agency decision-making.” Stone-Manning previously has said the BLM’s National Conservation Lands and Community Partnerships assistant director and deputy assistant director positions will anchor the western headquarters. Her email this week said that divisions of that “directorate” are currently scattered around the West, with positions in Grand Junction; Salt Lake City; Reno, Nev.; and Santa Fe. [BLM chief outlines role for western headquarters staffed 'to full capacity']

In 2002 Tracy Stone-Manning lectured on the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act or NREPA at the University of Montana where she earned her Masters of Science in Environmental Studies. In 2007 she became an aide to Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) then ran the state’s Department of Environmental Quality and in 2014 she became chief of staff for Montana Governor Steve Bullock. As Director of the Clark Fork Coalition she guided dam removal and river cleanup and has been co-chair of Missoula's Open Space, Rivers and Farmland. 

But after first supporting her confirmation as BLM Director Montana's Earth hating At-large US Representative Matt Rosendale, now running for a newly created second congressional district and home to American Prairie, flipped and gaslighted a House committee citing Stone-Manning's role in a 1989 tree spiking incident.

It’s very unlikely Stone-Manning would have been considered for BLM director without her tenure as Montana’s top environmental regulator, which Rosendale approved. [Rosendale blasts BLM director as 'eco terrorist']

Earlier this year Director Stone-Manning spoke to David McCumber with Lee Newspapers of Montana telling him, "[w]e don't manage culture, we manage landscape outcomes." 

Yes, Montana's Earth haters are wielding the power of government to stifle free enterprise in a state where freedom used to be paramount. Realtors in Montana are even capitalizing on racist paranoia amid Donald Trump’s calls for the End Times. But, Republicans aren't just fearful of government overreach; they're frightened public lands will be remanded to the First Nations.

Learn more about the BLM and the road to pyrodiversity at Oregon Public Broadcasting.