BLM Names New State Directors for Nevada and Colorado

DENVER The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management today announced that Ron Wenker, currently the agency’s state director in Colorado will become the new BLM state director in Nevada, and Sally Wisely, currently the state director in Utah, will become the BLM state director in Colorado. A search will begin to fill the vacated state director position in Utah, it was also announced.

“Ron and Sally are looking forward to these new challenges and I am excited about bringing two excellent and very experienced BLM managers to these states to work with our many and varied constituencies,” BLM Director Kathleen Clarke said. According to Clarke, both Wisely and Wenker are expected to assume their new positions this Fall.

“Sally was a former BLM manager in Colorado and Ron was a former BLM manager in Nevada, so they both are actually returning to some familiar turf,” Clarke noted. “They will be missed in their present positions, but, on the other hand, there are many folks in Colorado and Nevada who I know are eager to meet or get re-acquainted with them, work with them and cooperatively explore the resource opportunities in those states.”

In Nevada, Wenker will manage natural resource issues on about 48 million acres in the state. Major natural resource issues in Nevada include: wild horses, land sales, livestock grazing, fire and fuels management and hardrock mining.

Wenker has been the BLM Colorado state director since December 2002. Prior to that time, he served as the District Manager in Medford, Oregon and earlier in the Winnemucca, Nevada, office. He also served as an Area Manager in the BLM Kemmerer, Wyoming office. Wenker holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Range Management from California State University at Humboldt. He is married with three children and was born in Huntington Park, California.

In Colorado, Wisely will manage natural resource issues on over eight million acres in the state. Major natural resource issues in the state include: energy development, recreation, land use planning, fire and fuels management and mining.

Wisely has been the BLM Utah State Director since May 1999. Prior to that, she served as the BLM Alaska Associate State Director from November 1994 to May 1999. She also served as the BLM Area Manager in Durango, Colorado from 1987 to 1994. She has a Master’s Degree in Outdoor Recreation from the University of New Mexico and is from Atchison, Kansas.

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