For Immediate Release:  January 13, 2006

Contacts:

Celia Boddington 202-452-5128    Vaughn Whatley 303-239-3766    Theresa Sauer 303-239-3861

BLM Director Appoints Dan DuBray as Communications Director

Washington – Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke announced today the appointment of Daniel J. DuBray as Assistant Director for Communications. DuBray has been serving as press secretary to Interior Secretary Gale Norton and was previously a special assistant for communications for Indian affairs and senior content manager of the department's website, www.doi.gov.

"I’m extremely pleased to welcome Dan to our team. He has a proven record in public and congressional affairs,” Clarke said. “His expertise and broad perspective will help ensure our responsiveness to the American people.”

DuBray will oversee the BLM’s public affairs, legislative and regulatory affairs, intergovernmental affairs, and the Bureau’s environmental education and volunteer programs. DuBray came to the Department of the Interior in 2002 to work for the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. He previously was communications director for Rep. Harold Rogers of Kentucky, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. He also served as a senior advisor to former Montana Rep. Ron Marlenee and former Montana Rep. Rick Hill. While on Marlenee's staff, he played a key role on the team that developed legislation to create the National Indian Memorial at Montana's Little Bighorn Battlefield.

DuBray has worked extensively in radio and television broadcasting, having produced, anchored, and managed broadcast news and entertainment programs for KALL AM/FM and KUER-FM in Salt Lake City and for KULR-TV, NewsTalk 910 KBLG Radio, and Yellowstone Public Radio in Billings, Mont.

He is a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe and his hometown is Billings. From 1993 to 1996, he served as executive director of the Billings Community Cable Corp., and its Community Seven Television. DuBray produced and moderated nationally televised Federal candidate debates produced in partnership with the Billings Gazette.

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land—261 million surface acres—than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1.8 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on the public lands.

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