Doug Vilsack, head of Colorado’s Bureau of Land Management, has resigned from his position effective by the end of next week. 

Vilsack’s resignation was first reported by E&E Politico, which shared details of an email sent to the Bureau’s Colorado office on Wednesday, March 17. In the email, Vilsack wrote that he was choosing to leave rather than accept reassignment to the Bureau’s National Operations Center located in Lakewood. 

Vilsack — son of former U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who led the agency under the Obama and Biden administrations, and served two terms as the governor of Iowa — has led the Colorado office since August 2022. He joined the federal agency from a role as assistant director of parks, wildlife and lands at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

“As many of you know, BLM leadership has transferred me to the National Operations Center,” Vilsack wrote in the email. “After considering this direction, I plan to resign from my position with BLM.”

Colorado’s Bureau of Land Management office oversees 8.3 million acres of public lands in the state and 27 million acres of federal mineral estate. 

According to Vilsack’s email, it is unclear who will take over the office in an interim role following his departure. He wrote that while Tom Workman, currently the director of the agency’s National Operations Center, was expected to step in if Vilsack accepted his reassignment, “that could change.” 

Brian St. George, associate state director for Colorado’s Bureau office, was recently reassigned by federal leadership to a temporary role to lead the Bureau’s strategic plan, according to the email. St. George’s position will reportedly be filled by Karren Haslam, currently the Bureau’s deputy Colorado director for support services in the Bureau. 

The Bureau’s Colorado office did not respond to a request for comment on Vilsack’s departure and the leadership transition plan.

Vilsack is the latest Western BLM state director to leave or be transferred, with recent changes the the directors of the Idaho, Oregon-Washington, Utah and New Mexico. The federal agency reshuffling comes amid the process to name a new Bureau of Land Management Director and ongoing changes to the agency under the Trump administration. 

President Donald Trump’s nomination of former New Mexico Rep. Stevan Pearce has advanced to the Senate for a final floor vote, but faces significant pushback from conservation and environmental groups over his past support of public land sales. 

The shift in presidential administration also brought a new focus on domestic energy and oil and gas development as well as on timber and mineral production for the Bureau, which Vilsack said in April the agency was well poised to tackle, while guarding against looming workforce reductions 

In August, after 10% of the Colorado staff took the deferred resignation option offered to federal employees, Vilsack told a Club 20 delegation in Steamboat Springs that these reductions had led to vacancies in key areas of the agency — including rangeland management, oil and gas and internal operations like budget issues — and a culture shift. 

“I mean, these are their livelihoods. Many of them have been here for many years. I think this type of reorganization conversation is always challenging,” Vilsack said. “I will say, since the deferred resignation effort, we’ve seen very few people leave. At this point, I think most of our people are very committed to sticking around for a long time.”

According to The Daily Sentinel out of Grand Junction, Vilsack’s email announcing his decision to resign ended with a nod to the staff’s “good work.” 

“Our country needs good people like you caring for our treasured public lands,” he wrote.  

Reporter Ryan Spencer contributed to this story.