BLM Director Announces Selection of Tom Lonnie
To Head Bureau’s Alaska State Office
Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke today announced the
selection of Thomas P. Lonnie to be the Director of the Bureau’s
Alaska State Office. Lonnie, who currently serves as the BLM’s
Assistant Director for Minerals, Realty, and Resource Protection, succeeds
Henri Bisson as Alaska State Director. Bisson was named the BLM’s
Deputy Director for Operations earlier this month.
“The job of State Director for Alaska is a great fit for Tom Lonnie,” said
Director Clarke. “He has the experience, leadership skills,
and vision needed to meet the challenges of managing public lands in
Alaska.” The BLM manages 85.6 million surface acres of public
land in Alaska, along with 237 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate.
“I appreciate the confidence that Director Clarke has placed in
me by naming me as the Bureau’s Alaska State Director,” Lonnie
said. “I look forward to the wonderful opportunity of serving
the public and carrying out the BLM’s multiple-use mission in Alaska.”
In his current position as an Assistant Director in the BLM’s
Washington, D.C., office, which he has held since July 2003. Lonnie
oversees the Bureau’s management of numerous key activities on
public lands, including the development of fluid minerals (such as oil
and gas) and solid minerals (such as gold, silver, copper, and coal). Lonnie
also leads the Bureau’s realty programs, including land exchanges,
land transfers, rights-of-way, and the cadastral (land-ownership) survey. In
addition, Lonnie is responsible for programs that identify and respond
to hazards and risks on the public lands, such as abandoned mine sites.
Before coming to Washington, D.C., Lonnie, a native of Long Island,
New York, served as Acting State Director of the BLM’s Montana
State Office from August 2002-January 2003. Prior to that, he held
numerous BLM positions in Montana and Wyoming, including that of Acting
Associate State Director in the Montana State Office, where he was Deputy
State Director for Resources from April 1995-July 2003. Among his
many accomplishments, Lonnie participated on a national task force in
1987 that worked on changes to Federal oil and gas leasing regulations;
he also led the investigation of the Cerro Grande fire in New Mexico
in 2000.
Lonnie began his Federal career in 1978 as a geologist. He graduated
with a B.A. in geology from the State University of New York at Stony
Brook in 1974, and received an M.S. in geology from Adelphi University
in New York in 1977. He lives in Arlington, Va. and has three grown
daughters.
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