St. George The Bureau of Land Management Arizona Strip District Office in St. George, Utah, welcomes Dennis Sylvia as its new Associate District Manager. Sylvia most recently served as TEAMS EU Project Liaison Officer for the U.S. Forest Service in Thorne Bay, Alaska, and has been enjoying his transition and return to Southern Utah.

“This brings me back home to the Grand Canyon area,” Sylvia said noting the seasons he spent as a University of Arizona graduate student studying, hiking & backpacking miles of the Grand Canyon while completing his geosciences master’s thesis. While there was always an allure to the Grand Canyon, Sylvia recalls his enthusiasm as a geologist for studying the Mississippian era Redwall Limestone. Sylvia vividly remembers his experiences as a student in the Grand Canyon. “Watching the play of colors on the canyon walls—it’s just one of those things you never forget. There’s such wonder in it,” he said. 

Sylvia was attracted to the St. George area for its’ ideal climate, community, and its’ beautiful landscapes and geology. “I’m captivated by the region’s geologic history; how this area’s landscape features were formed,” he said.

Sylvia possesses years of public lands management experience in the BLM, US Forest Service, US Air Force and private business and he values BLM’s multiple use mission. “Balancing resources, energy, recreation, that’s part of the BLM philosophy that I like,” he said. There’s also a great satisfaction that comes in seeing the direct benefits of the work to the environmental outcomes. “The benefit we see on the ground is very gratifying,” he said. 

Sylvia also appreciates working with BLM staff. “The people within BLM exhibit that philosophy of being good stewards. They have passion about the resources they help manage and they are dedicated government employees.  You see the same kind of devotion within many other agencies, but it’s very apparent in BLM. There’s a real understanding that we work for the taxpayer, that these public lands are for all of us, and we really take that very seriously,” Sylvia said.