Helen M. Hankins Appointed as BLM Colorado State Director

Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey today announced the appointment of career employee Helen Hankins as the new state director for the agency’s Colorado State Office.  Hankins is currently the associate state director for the BLM in Arizona.

“Helen has worked at all levels and across the nation for the BLM,” Abbey said.  “The depth and breadth of her experience and her dedication to our country’s public lands is exceptional.  I’m very pleased she has accepted this crucial position.”

Hankins, 58, is a native of Council, Idaho.  She joined the BLM in Albuquerque, N.M., serving as a clerk-typist in the agency’s student work study program in 1970.   She went on to serve in increasingly responsible positions in Durango, Colo., Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, Washington, D.C., Elko, Nev., and Phoenix, Ariz.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of New Mexico and was one of the first two women to complete the BLM’s 5-month-long minerals law school program.

In Colorado, Hankins will oversee 815 employees with a budget of approximately $75 million and administer 8.3 million acres of BLM public lands and 27 million acres of mineral estate, which are concentrated primarily in the western portion of the state. 

Hankins, an active member of both Rotary International and Toastmasters International, is married to Michael Mauser, with whom she has hosted eleven exchange students.  Helen and Michael look forward to continuing their shared passion for hiking and backpacking in Colorado.   She plans to assume her duties on February 1.

Click here to download a photo of Hankins