February 12, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on the nomination of Kathleen Sgamma for BLM Director – 2.12.25
Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Washington, DC – Today, the Trump administration announced the nomination of Kathleen Sgamma to lead the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM); this role will require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Below is a statement from SUWA DC Director Travis Hammill and additional information.
“Anyone who loves Utah’s redrock wilderness and our nation’s wildest public lands should be appalled by fossil fuel enthusiast Kathleen Sgamma’s nomination for BLM Director. The agency is mandated by Congress to bring a balanced and holistic approach to its management of federal public lands – not the extractive, destructive, and short-sighted approach that Sgamma has so enthusiastically advocated time and time again,” said Travis Hammill, SUWA’s DC Director. “Under Kathleen Sgamma’s leadership, Utah’s redrock will be under unprecedented threat, but SUWA and our supporters across the country and in Congress will work tirelessly to ensure that these remarkable landscapes remain wild and protected.”
Additional information:
In Utah, the BLM manages 22.8 million acres of public lands, ranging from “spectacular red-rock canyons and roaring rivers to high mountain peaks and expansive salt flats” including Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (designated in 1996 and the first monument managed by the BLM) and Bears Ears National Monument (designated in 2016 and jointly managed with the US Forest Service).
The BLM also manages several Congressionally-designated Wilderness areas in Utah (including remarkable places such as Muddy Creek (Emery County), Canaan Mountain (Washington County), and the Cedar Mountains (Tooele County)). BLM-Utah also manages more than 80 Wilderness Study Areas, and other significant public landscapes including Nine Mile Canyon, Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, and the Desolation Canyon and Labyrinth Canyon stretches of the Green River. SUWA’s signature bill, America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, would designate more than 8 million acres of BLM land in Utah as wilderness.
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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.
