Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke cites Colorado’s advantages in BLM move

“There’s no reason a trail can’t begin on Forest Service property and go into a park and end up on (Bureau of Land Management) property,” he said, making his way from the the park’s Glacier Gorge trailhead toward Alberta Falls on a hike with Colorado Politics. “That’s part of the reorganization, looking at ecosystem management, in addition to people management, to take advantage of property that is underused,” he said. The reorganization he spoke of has even bigger ramifications for Colorado, as Zinke presses ahead with a plan to move the headquarters of the Department of the Interior’s BLM and possibly other agencies out of Washington, D.C. He talked about the advantages Colorado enjoys as Grand Junction lobbies to land the BLM headquarters. He cited the Western Slope city’s good schools, affordable cost of living and high quality of life. But most of all, it has proximity. On the Western Slope, Zinke noted, BLM headquarters staff would be closer to the vast Colorado, Utah and Wyoming properties it manages. “If you’re a military commander, it makes sense to put your headquarters next to the fight,” he said...MORE 

 “There’s no reason a trail can’t begin on Forest Service property and go into a park and end up on (Bureau of Land Management) property

Zinke is right, there is no reason it can't be accomplished, which means it does not provide a reason to reorganize.

The Forest Service is in the USDA, not the USDI, so of what relevance is his example to a reorganization of the USDI?

“If you’re a military commander, it makes sense to put your headquarters next to the fight,” 

It is a war zone out here. The causes of the war, however, are various federal laws. It matters little where you place the soldiers. The battle will continue and harm inflicted until the cause - federal law - is addressed.

Where are Zinke's war-ending, peace proposals to amend the ESA, NEPA, CWA, CAA, FLPMA, etc?. So far, his highest legislative priority is to increase infrastructure funding and permanently fund federal land acquisition. From my perspective, that's like improving the supply lines and increasing the ranks of the federal army. We in the West want to sue for peace, but all Zinke is proposing is to move the troops around. It may appear he is doing something, but in the long run it will accomplish nothing. He's not draining the swamp, he's just moving it West.