John Dearing's interest in broadcasting and journalism landed him in the External Affairs Office of the Bureau of Land Management 6 years ago.  Coming from the Internal Revenue Service after 16 years as a public affairs officer, the change to natural resources has been a challenging, yet fun experience. 

With a bachelor of arts degree in radio-television management, John is the statewide program lead for the news media program and coordinates with the field public affairs officers, state program leads, and the Washington Office on media inquiries and news releases.  In addition, John updates the "news" portion of the BLM California web site and assists with the production of News.bytes, a weekly e-newsletter.

John's "parallel" career is with the U.S. Army Reserve.  With 29 years of service, including four years of active duty, John is the Command Sergeant Major of the 368 Military Intelligence Battalion headquartered in Oakland, CA.

John's new bride, Donna, works full time for the Idaho National Guard and is being mobilized for an 18-month assignment.  John has two grown children, John and Anne, and twin granddaughters, Alexandra and Alexis.

This Friday, April 30th, will be John's last day in the office until next year.