[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 49 (Friday, April 26, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E631-E632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO CINDY McKEE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 25, 2002

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Cindy McKee, an official in the Colorado State Office of the U.S. 
Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Cindy is retiring from the BLM after 
30 years of dedicated and outstanding government service. She has been 
a shining example of the quality work of those who choose to serve 
their country and communities through working in the public sector.
  Cindy came to the BLM shortly after passage of the Federal Land 
Policy and Management Act of 1976, the BLM's organic statute. She first 
served as an employee of the Public Affairs Office of the Wyoming State 
Office, and then quickly moved up to a position as a public affairs 
specialist. At this position, she edited the BLM's statewide newsletter 
and thus reported on the wide-ranging and at times controversial issues 
facing the agency.
  She then moved to Colorado where she became the first public affairs 
officer assigned to the BLM's district office in Grand Junction. There 
she frequently appeared on television and radio describing and 
discussing BLM's policies and positions. In the early 1980s, she was 
involved in the debates related to oil shale development, coordinating 
environmental impact statements tied to the potential production of 
this resource on Colorado's western slope.
  The BLM asked the Grand Junction Office to take the lead for a 
national celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Taylor 
Grazing Act, whose author was Representative Edward Taylor of Colorado. 
That Act provided for establishment of the Grazing Service, one of 
BLM's predecessor agencies. Cindy took charge of this effort, 
developing a series of events, public education materials and 
conferences to highlight public lands grazing and the Act. She also 
initiated a number of other projects that garnered national attention, 
such as the opening of the western slope fire operations center, a 
dinosaur discovery areas and the Little Book Cliffs wild horse area. 
During this time, Cindy won a number of BLM awards for her photographic 
work, and a number of her pictures appeared in national publications.
  In 1992, she assisted the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 
community relations and public affairs support following the 
devastating Hurricane Andrew in Miami, Florida. From a makeshift tent 
community in Homestead, Florida, she conducted daily briefings on the 
efforts to respond to this disaster. She returned to Colorado where in 
this experience helped her meet the challenge of being one of the 
information officers responding to the tragic 1994 South Canyon fire 
near Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where 14 firefighters

[[Page E632]]

lost their lives. She was the lead in coordinating the media, various 
responding agencies as well as attending to the needs of the victim's 
families.
  During the past ten years, Cindy has designed and taught media, 
public affairs roles and responsibilities, congressional relations, and 
fire information classes for a number of BLM and U.S. Forest Service 
offices. More recently, she served as the liaison between the BLM's 
Colorado Office and the Interior Department on the legislative transfer 
of the U.S. Naval Oil Shale Reserve lands in Colorado. She also was the 
lead public affairs coordinator for the recently created Gunnison Gorge 
National Conservation Area and the Colorado Canyons National 
Conservation Area in Colorado. And, she developed one of the first BLM 
websites, for which she received national recognition. It was voted one 
of the top 20 sites in Colorado.
  For all of this and more, Cindy received the Superior Service Award 
from the Department of the Interior. Her approachable style has been 
well received by many who have had the pleasure to work with her and 
interact with the agency. I applaud Cindy for all of her efforts to 
improve the public's understanding and appreciation of our public lands 
and the important work of the land-management agencies. These lands are 
an important part of the western heritage and her work has helped 
promote and further that legacy.
  I wish her well in her future endeavors and again thank her for the 
work she has done for Colorado, the BLM and the communities of 
Colorado.

                          ____________________