Grand Junction is 'darn hard to get to': ranchers split on public lands agency's move west

The Bureau of Land Management is moving from Washington to Colorado - but some see it as an attempt to undermine the agency

In November 2017, less than a year after Donald Trump took office, Ryan Zinke proposed ejecting the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a federal agency that oversees 250m acres of federal land, from its longtime headquarters in Washington DC.

The BLM's key responsibilities include administering grazing permits for ranchers, mining, and oil and gas extraction permits; since the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, it has also had a mandate to oversee recreation and conservation on its lands.