In a report to Rep. Raъl Grijalva (D-AZ-3), chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailed changes to the organizational structure—including staffing issues—at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) since the relocation of headquarters from Washington D.C. to Grand Junction, CO.
BLM has a workforce of about 8,800 permanent staff members to manage more than 245
million acres of public land in 12 Western states for multiple uses, including energy and mineral development, livestock grazing, recreation and timber harvesting, while also maintaining natural, cultural and historic resources.
Since 2017, the department has experienced staffing restrictions implemented during the first few days of the Trump administration that prevented BLM from filling vacant positions open through attrition. Some of these freezes were removed over time, but restrictions on hiring supervisors and senior positions were in place through May 2021 in Washington D.C. and the Denver, CO, state office.
BLM staff interviewed by the GAO said the hiring freeze caused delays in creating or clarifying guidance or policy. In an effort to fill some vacancies, BLM hired temporary employees. While some BLM employees said it helped meet project timelines, most said it negatively affected their office’s performance.
BLM also changed its organizational structure by merging or transferring several headquarters functions to reduce redundancies, and it relocated most of its headquarters positions to offices in 11 Western states. Additionally, BLM reduced the number of divisions from 25 to 20 and reduced the number of directorates (those who work under the Office of the Director) from six to five.
The realignment received mixed reviews from staff members the GAO interviewed. Some said it worked well and helped reduce workloads, and others said it combined programs that “had different functions, dealt with different laws and required different expertise.”
In July 2019, BLM announced it was relocating its headquarters to Grand Junction, CO, to increase its presence closer to the resources it manages, saving costs and travel expenses. According to GAO, “Out of the 556 total headquarters positions in July 2019, when BLM announced the relocation, the agency relocated 252 headquarters positions to Western offices and reallocated 76 positions as state positions. Of the remaining 228 headquarters positions, 60 remained in Washington, D.C., and the other 168 were already located outside of Washington, D.C.”
According to BLM documentation, of the 328 headquarters positions reassigned to Western states or reallocated as state positions, 134 were vacant before the relocation. The remainder, or 176 staff members, were assigned to relocate to Grand Junction. Of that total, 41—or about 23 percent—accepted their reassignments. The remaining 135 staff declined their reassignments or left before receiving a reassignment, which created additional vacancies.
“Some of the staff members we interviewed said that the lack of information sharing with staff about the move west was a challenge,” GAO said. “For example, one staff member said that BLM leadership made relocation decisions ‘behind closed doors’ and without manager or employee input, and another staff member described an atmosphere where staff were discouraged from asking questions about the move.”
The GAO report stated that vacancies increased since the relocation, to 326 in March 2020. BLM has since filled some vacancies, but the number of vacant positions was currently at 142 as of May 2021.
The GAO also detailed a decrease in the proportion and number of experienced staff across the agency and in every office. Employees with 25 years or more of experience made up 24 percent of the BLM staff in January 2016, compared to 17 percent in January 2021, GAO said. The problem was worse within BLM headquarters, where the number of employees with 25 years of experience declined by 34 percent over that period from 171 to 113 employees. In state offices, experienced staff declined by more than 29 percent from 1,666 to 1,181.
Nearly all the staff members interviewed stated the loss of experienced staff negatively affected their office’s ability to conduct their duties.
“For example, one staff member said that the loss of institutional knowledge about laws and regulations meant that BLM was not able to provide knowledgeable input on proposed rules and legislation,” the GAO said. “Additionally, some staff members said that the rapid loss of experienced staff during the relocation hindered knowledge transfer.”
The GAO found that BLM relocated its workers without a strategic workforce plan for developing long-term strategies for acquiring, developing and retaining staff to achieve its goals. Instead, the department relied on a memorandum issued shortly after the relocation announcement. The GAO stated the memorandum does not constitute a strategic workforce plan because it does not “address aligning the agency’s human capital program with emerging mission goals.”
The GAO recommended BLM develop an agencywide strategic workforce plan and suggested BLM better track data on vacancies and temporary assignments among state offices and headquarters.
On Sept. 17, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced plans to relocate BLM’s national headquarters from Grand Junction to Washington, D.C. According to the Interior, Haaland intends to relocate the director and other key leadership positions to the national headquarters to coordinate with Congress and other federal agencies. Additionally, BLM’s Grand Junction office would be maintained as its Western headquarters, to “reinforce Western perspectives in decision-making and to play a role in BLM’s clean energy, outdoor recreation, conservation and scientific mission, among other work.”
The GAO also provided a draft of the letter to the Interior. They concurred with the recommendations and stated the target date for implementation is June 30, 2022. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
