The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has launched the Foundation for America’s Public Lands, which will help “leverage public and private dollars to conserve, protect and restore lands managed by (BLM) for the benefit of the American people.”
In May 2017, Congress authorized the creation of a BLM-affiliated foundation in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland named four founding board members to the foundation, which will operate and raise funds independent of BLM to help BLM better accomplish its mission, according to the agency.
The founding board members include former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D); Maite Arce, founder of the Hispanic Access Foundation; Campion Advocacy Fund and Campion Foundation CEO Neil Kornze; and Stacy Leeds, district court judge for Muscogee (Creek) Nation and an appellate court judge for other Indigenous nations. Haaland will appoint an additional five board members in the coming months.
