Zinke looks to move 3 agencies' headquarters to Denver

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reportedly has said Denver "will probably" become the headquarters for three major agencies within the department as part of an ambitious reorganization effort slated to get underway in fiscal 2019. The Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Reclamation could eventually move their headquarters operations from Washington to Denver, according to employee notes obtained by E&E News detailing a July meeting between Zinke and U.S. Geological Survey senior executives in Denver. Zinke provided an overview of his reorganization plans to the senior executives during a July 21 lunch, USGS spokesman Dave Ozman confirmed. ..MORE

 Some good thoughts here by Zinke.

It included discussion of the secretary's desire to shift more department resources and personnel from Washington to field offices across the country and empower front-line employees with more decisionmaking authority.

I have no quarrel with shifting resources and personnel out of DC and I agree with giving front-line employees more decisonmaking authority. The latter was one of our many accomplishments during the Reagan administration. Both can be accomplished under current authorities and do not require a major reorganization including establishing different zones for ecosystem management.  

"Zinke believes the DOI organization is an upside-down pyramid — there are too many high-graded employees," the notes said. "There needs to be more lower grades, and they need to be in the field. Example, when a GS-14 retires, we should hire a GS-6 or 9."

What Zinke says here is true of many federal agencies, including the Dept. of Interior. Taking action to remedy this is an excellent goal, but again, can be accomplished within the current structure. 

Zinke has told lawmakers that he wants to reduce the department workforce by 4,000 full-time jobs through a mix of attrition, separation incentives and reassignments to meet the recommendations of the Trump administration's fiscal 2018 budget request.

A laudable goal for which I wish him great success. The problem here is the Republicans in Congress who so far have refused to go along with budget cuts. 

The Montanan, a former Navy SEAL, also outlined for career managers his plan to have field offices report to regional joint management areas (JMAs) based on watershed and wildlife corridors. The idea is based on the military's joint command structure. Leadership at the JMAs "could change or rotate between bureaus in the JMAs," the notes said. "They are looking to select two to three cities in each of the 13 regions which will compete to be site of the regional/JMA office," the meeting notes said. "Cities have to be no more than two hops from D.C. (by air), affordable and with good community infrastructure."

This is where Zinke and I part. See my previous comments here