{"id":2441870,"date":"2019-03-18T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T03:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sandoval-returns-home-to-head-blm-silt-office\/"},"modified":"2019-03-18T21:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T03:44:00","slug":"sandoval-returns-home-to-head-blm-silt-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/sandoval-returns-home-to-head-blm-silt-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandoval returns home to head BLM Silt office"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"401\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/BLM-GPI-031919.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/BLM-GPI-031919.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/BLM-GPI-031919-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><figcaption><strong>New BLM field manager Larry Sandoval is sworn in by BLM Colorado State Director Jamie Connell alongside his wife at the swearing in ceremony in Silt on Monday afternoon.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Longtime Colorado resident Larry Sandoval officially joined the U.S. Bureau of Land Management this week, returning to his roots to become the new field manager for the Silt-based BLM office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The position had been filled by interim leadership for the previous two years. Sandoval will be taking over for acting field manager Gloria Tibbetts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A swearing-in ceremony was held for Sandoval at the Silt BLM office Monday, attended by friends and family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">BLM Colorado State Director Jamie Connell said during the event that she\u2019s known Sandoval a long time, dating back to his time with the U.S. Forest Service in Glenwood Springs. She said she was proud to see him join the BLM.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI was born and raised in Colorado, (and I\u2019m) excited to be back,\u201d Sandoval said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sandoval previously worked for the White River National Forest in Glenwood Springs from 2001 to 2006, before moving to other Forest Service positions in Wisconsin, Wyoming and Oregon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">During his time with the National Forest, he was the Forest Service liaison for the Glenwood Springs Pilot Energy Office, created to oversee oil and gas development. That office was eventually absorbed by the BLM office in Silt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sandoval said one of the biggest similarities he sees between the Forest Service and BLM is the emphasis on diverse multiple-use land management.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He said he looks forward to immediately diving into some of the big issues on the Western Slope, and plans to follow his predecessors and meaningfully engage with the public through each one of these issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Among those issues will be the ongoing debate over future oil and gas leasing in the Thompson Divide area west of Carbondale, where the BLM acted to cancel several undeveloped gas leases in recent years. The area is now part of a comprehensive public lands proposal by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet to permanently close off the area to future oil and gas leasing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s critical that we serve the public, and it\u2019s important that we do so in a collaborative fashion,\u201d Sandoval said of that and other issues related to public lands use.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He said that collaboration with the public that the BLM uses on virtually every issue is what attracted him to the position in the first place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sandoval said the position is all about serving the public, and he looks forward to working closely with area communities to make informed and sound decisions for the BLM in 2019 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Another local hot-button issue that Sandoval will be involved with will be whether to allow expansion of the Rocky Mountain Resources limestone quarry north of Glenwood Springs. The company recently resubmitted its application to the BLM for a major expansion of the permitted operation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sandoval said he expects it to be a contentious issue with a lot of interest from both sides. He said it is still very early in the process, and too early to know exactly what the end result will be. But he said he expects a very robust process with the public throughout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As he begins his new position, Sandoval said his No. 1 goal will be to get up to speed on the BLM organization and its policies and procedures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:azorn@citizentelegram.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">azorn@citizentelegram.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sandoval-returns-home-to-head-blm-silt-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New BLM field manager Larry Sandoval is sworn in by BLM Colorado State Director Jamie Connell alongside his wife at the swearing in ceremony in Silt on Monday afternoon.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Longtime Colorado resident Larry Sandoval officially joined the U.S. Bureau of Land Management this week, returning to his roots to become the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2441870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 12:59:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}