Bureau of Land Management director Tracy Stone-Manning has named public land manager Steven Cohn as the new Alaska state director of the agency, replacing Tom Heinlein, who is returning to his permanent role at BLM Anchorage district manager.
Cohn will be responsible for overseeing management of 70 million surface acres and 220 million acres of federal subsurface mineral estate. He will also oversee 650 permanent staff and approximately 200 seasonal employees who help manage a myriad of public land uses and resources to include the Federal Subsistence Management Program, the Alaska Land Transfer Program, the National Petroleum Reserve and oversight of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System.
Cohn is returning to the BLM at the end of May from The Nature Conservancy, where he has served as Alaska state director since 2018. His career in federal service began with the Bureau of Land Management more than two decades ago as a presidential management fellow.
Cohn holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University and advanced degrees from the University of California at Berkeley College of Natural Resources. He lives with his family in Anchorage, where he enjoys fishing, hiking and paddling rivers in remote sections of the state.
