The Biden administration continues to build up the Bureau of Land Management’s congressionally authorized foundation, filling out its board of directors by adding four new members.
The Foundation for America’s Public Lands, established by Congress in 2017 but up and running for only the past two years, has tapped a former Apple executive, a financial expert and two business leaders to round out the nine-member board. BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning serves as an ex officio board member.
The foundation board members are appointed by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who formally launched the foundation in January 2022 as the independent, charitable arm of BLM. Its mission includes raising private funding that can be matched by federal appropriations to help the bureau address public lands management issues across the 245 million acres it oversees.
Until 2022, BLM was the only major federal land management agency without an affiliated foundation, such as existing groups that assist the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service.
