[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9597-9598]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                        TRIBUTE TO LINDA RUNDELL

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, today I recognize Ms. Linda 
Rundell, the Bureau of Land Management's New Mexico State director, for 
her exemplary public service and to express my congratulations on her 
upcoming retirement after 32 years.
  Linda has held many titles during her time with BLM, including range 
conservationist, wildlife biologist, environmental impact statement 
team leader, program analyst, congressional fellow, and district 
manager. And her work has taken her to nearly as many parts of our 
country, including Alaska, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, DC.
  But the majority of her career has kept her in my home State of New 
Mexico where she will finish her tenure with BLM as State director for 
New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. Since 2002, Linda has overseen 
an annual budget of $250 million and is responsible for 13.4 million 
acres of public lands in New Mexico and nearly 54 million acres of 
Federal and tribal subsurface minerals underlying non-BLM lands in the 
four States.
  With a mission of multiple-use management, the BLM is tasked with 
balancing competing uses of our public land--including oil and gas 
development, wildlife protection, recreation, grazing, landscape 
conservation, and cultural resource protection--to name just a few. 
Attempting to balance these activities can be a challenging task for 
any land manager. However, Linda's career demonstrates how well she has 
personified this mission by assisting groups with opposing viewpoints 
to

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find common ground through collaboration.
  Restore New Mexico, a program Linda established in 2005, demonstrates 
the benefits that can be achieved through collaboration. In only about 
6 years the BLM--in partnership with environmental groups, ranchers, 
oil and gas companies, and sportsmen--has begun the restoration of 1.5 
million acres of grasslands and woodlands in New Mexico. These efforts 
are reversing decades and even centuries of habitat fragmentation, 
encroachment by invasive species, and the legacy of orphaned oil and 
gas wells across the State. The results have been excellent, and the 
partnerships that have been built between long-time adversaries cannot 
be understated. With this collaboration as a framework, the long-term 
successful restoration of our public lands is more likely than ever.
  Linda's impressive record as State director is no doubt a product of 
what she learned in the years leading up to it. Her background as a 
wildlife biologist, for example, gave her the foresight to recognize 
that the BLM had a significant role to play if further population 
declines of the lesser prairie chicken were to be averted. Before this 
small grouse began gaining headlines in newspapers, Linda knew that a 
continued decline of this species would have far-reaching implications. 
For this reason, she has worked diligently to protect and expand lesser 
prairie chicken habitat in the State.
  Linda exemplifies the attributes found in effective leaders--honesty, 
a strong work ethic, and a willingness to make the right decision even 
when it may be difficult. She is highly respected within and outside 
the agency for her leadership skills and her staff in New Mexico mirror 
these traits. I appreciate how helpful she and her staff have been 
while working with my office in the development of various policy 
initiatives including conservation measures--many of which have been 
signed into law--like the Ojito Wilderness, Prehistoric Trackways 
National Monument, Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation 
Area, and Sabinoso Wilderness.
  Linda's tenure as BLM State director will leave a lasting legacy that 
has and will continue to benefit the health of our public land and 
wildlife as well as the economy of our State and Nation. Our Nation is 
grateful for her service, and I wish her the best on her future 
endeavors.

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