The Trump administration has confirmed that the headquarters of the government’s largest land management agency is moving from the nation’s capital to western Colorado.
In a letter dated Tuesday, the Interior Department told Congress it plans to move the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado.
The letter was released by Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. Gardner praised the move, saying it would bring decision-makers closer to the land they manage.
The Trump administration says about 300 jobs in the Bureau of Land Management are moving to Western states as part of a reorganization, but fewer than 30 appeared headed to the agency’s new headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado.
The Interior Department, which oversees the bureau, released a few details of the planned move Tuesday ahead of a formal announcement of the plans.
The department says about 85 jobs will be shifted to Colorado, but most of those will go to suburban Denver, where the federal government has a large campus with regional offices of several agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management.
Nevada is in line for nearly 50 jobs, Utah about 45, and Arizona and New Mexico about 40 each.
The others were destined for Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Wyoming.
The bureau oversees nearly 388,000 square miles (1 billion square kilometers) of public land, and 99% is in 12 Western states. Only about 400 of the bureau’s 9,000 employees are in Washington. The rest are in field offices nationwide.
Republican lawmakers announced the move Monday, but administration officials didn’t confirm it until today.
