BLM district, field managers installed

WORLAND - The Worland Bureau of Land Management held a dual installation ceremony at the Washakie Museum and Cultural Center Tuesday morning for Mike Phillips and Kim Liebhauser. Liebhauser took her oath for district manager of the Wind River/Bighorn Basin District and Phillips took his oath for field manager of the Worland Field Office.

BLM Wyoming State Director Mary Jo Rugwell introduced Phillips saying, "Mike Phillips began his position as the new field manager for the Worland Field Office several months ago, and had been serving as the assistant field manager for resources since 2007. In 1991, Mike joined the BLM as a rangeland management specialist in the Platte River Resource Area, which we now know as the Casper Field Office. He served as an interim manager in varies capacities in Casper, Worland, Rock Springs, Cheyenne and Wenatchee, Washington."

She added, "Mike received an associate degree in agriculture from Eastern Wyoming College and a Bachelor of science in Range Management from the University of Wyoming. He enjoys fly fishing, horseback riding and hunting on Wyoming public lands."

After taking his oath, Phillips spoke to the audience stating that communication is an important part of his job. In an earlier interview Phillips stated, "I plan on taking forth my vision as related to what the state office vision is and kind of marrying that to the staff. Bringing forth communication, I think is one of the biggest that we need to continue, both internally and externally. I plan to use a common sense approach to management within the sideboards of our regulations. We do have quite a bit of flexibility. Being very open and providing a fair forum for everybody to have a discussion. Being able to listen is also important. Listening to what the public has to say and also what the staff has to say, so that we are making well informed decisions on resource management issues.

"Open communication, being able to discuss the issues at hand. We are not always going to agree about the direction that things will go but we are going to do what is best for the resource. There will be openness about how those decisions are being made and why. In the end we are all on the same team and we all want to protect our resources, we just see the processes differently."

After Phillips's comments, Rugwell introduced Liebhauser. "Kim Liebhauser began her federal career in 1985 as a student with the Bureau of Reclamation in Amarillo, Texas. She held several positions with Reclamation in Boulder City, Nev. and Yuma, Ariz., as well as with the National Park Service in Beaumont, Texas, prior to joining the BLM at the Las Vegas Field Office in 2007. Her positions in Las Vegas included supervisory realty specialist, assistant field manager for lands and assistant district manager for support services for the Southern Nevada District Office. Kim was the Lake Havasu field manager in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., from 2011-2015 and was most recently the BLM's National Program Lead for the Land and Water Conservation Fund in Washington, D.C.

"Kim and her husband, Joe have three grown children: Jolea, Evan and KaLea and one 5-year-old grandson, Charlie. Kim enjoys being with her family, traveling with her husband, spending time on, near or around rivers, lakes and oceans and exploring new areas, particularly western public lands."

After taking her oath, Liebhauser spoke to the audience about her husband's career with the BLM and in a press release stated, ""I am proud to have the opportunity to take a role in Wyoming public land stewardship and look forward to working with the public on projects and issues throughout the Wind River/Bighorn Basin District."

Representatives from Senator Mike Enzi, Senator John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis were present at the ceremony and congratulated the two for their installation.

During the installation ceremony representatives from Bonanza Creek Energy received the environment steward award for land reclamation with monies out of their own pocket and three employees received time-in-service awards.

The ceremony ended with a meet-and-greet session to get acquainted with Liebhauser and Phillips.