The Bureau of Land Management is filling a top position created by the Biden administration that serves as a liaison between the agency and Western governors, senior bureau officials confirmed Tuesday to staff.
Sharif Branham, who currently heads the resources and planning directorate, is being reassigned as acting assistant director of the intergovernmental and external affairs directorate. The position was removed from the BLM leadership page and not filled after the former assistant director, John Gale, left BLM in May.
Reviving the liaison role is part of a senior staff reshuffling that BLM staff began learning about on Monday and also involves several other senior program directors and state office directors.
BLM and the Interior Department declined to comment. But details about many of the reassignments were outlined to the bureau’s resources and planning staff during a conference call Tuesday, a recording of which was obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News.
