BLM names new associate state director

Kristen Nelson

Julia Dougan has been named associate state director of the Bureau of Land Management Alaska, effective in February, Henri Bisson, BLM’s Alaska state director, said Nov. 23. Dougan, currently district manager for the BLM’s Eugene, Ore., district office, will assume responsibility for much of the day-to-day operations for 86 million acres of BLM-administered Alaska public lands and will oversee a staff of 800.

As district manager for the Eugene district office Dougan is responsible for oversight of 300,000 acres of public lands and a staff of 200. Prior to her Oregon appointment, Dougan worked at the BLM’s Washington, D.C., office where she was acting group manager for implementing the National Landscape Conservation System. Dougan’s BLM career spans 25 years, the agency said, and includes line management positions in Colorado, California and Oregon. At BLM Oregon, she processed numerous oil and gas drilling approvals, negotiated land exchanges and issued decisions on a wide spectrum of realty actions.

BLM Alaska spokeswoman Jody Weil told Petroleum News that the associate director position has been vacant for two years, since former Associate Director Linda Rundell left the Alaska region to become BLM’s New Mexico state director in late 2002. In addition to the director and associate director, the Alaska BLM office has a number of deputy directors for specific programs, such as oil and gas.