BLM Farmington Field Office hires new manager

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Farmington Field Office has hired a new field manager. This month, Richard "Rick" Fields began his new role as field manager, overseeing the office's roughly 100 employees who administer programs related to oil and gas development, recreation, livestock grazing and coal. "No one resource trumps another," Fields said. "We are required by law to take care of all of them. We have to balance all these things together in a time of limited resources." The office — which has about a 20 percent job vacancy rate due largely to the agency's aging workforce, Fields said — is currently hiring for positions such as petroleum engineering technician, natural resource specialist, tribal coordinator and a spokesperson. Before Fields' arrival, the Farmington Field Office lacked a field manager for about a year after previous manager Gary Torres took another BLM position in Washington, D.C. Fields, 53, was previously assistant field manager at the BLM's Oklahoma Field Office in Tulsa. In his new role, he said he plans to address challenges such as streamlining procedures, transparency and outreach to the agency's tribal partners and public-interest groups...more