Senator: Biggest US land agency moving to Grand Junction

Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner says the Trump administration is moving the headquarters of the federal government’s largest land agency to western Colorado.

Gardner said Monday the Bureau of Land Management’s Washington office will move to Grand Junction.

Gardner didn’t say when the headquarters would move. A Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman in Washington said she couldn’t confirm or deny the move. She declined to give her name.

The agency manages nearly 388,000 square miles (1 billion square kilometers) of public land, and 99% is in 12 Western states.

Gardner and other Western politicians have long argued the agency headquarters should be closer to the land it manages.

The agency has about 9,000 employees, with fewer than 400 in Washington. The rest are scattered among 140 state, district or field offices.