Charlie Lean has been appointed to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Alaska Resource Advisory Council (RAC). Lean joins a 15-member body tasked with advising the BLM on resource and land management issues for over 70 million acres of public lands across the state.
The Nome resident of 50 years decided to apply for the position after being encouraged by some friends.
“I had a couple of friends that said, ‘Well, you know a lot of stuff about the region and fish and wildlife, and why don't you take a look at it.’ And I did,” Lean said.
While serving a three-year term, Lean will help the BLM make management decisions that impact Alaskans and the state’s natural resources. He hopes his appointment will bring a local voice to conversations –and decisions– happening at the national level.
“I’ve been on other bodies that advise state and federal agencies, and having been a state or federal agency person for most of my career, I think one of the big weaknesses in government is that they don’t listen to local folks,” Lean explained. “So I’m putting my money where my mouth is.”
Subsistence will be a key issue for Lean, a topic he says documents published by the BLM often neglect. He hopes to bring attention to issues like the declining salmon fisheries and preservation of the Western Arctic caribou herd.
“If you read the documents from BLM, it doesn’t even mention subsistence. It has a very urban mindset,” Lean said. “I thought I could get a little bit more local perspective, or at least try to plant some ideas there.”
Lean’s appointment is part of a broader effort by the BLM to incorporate more local and diverse viewpoints into the management of Alaska’s vast public lands. BLM’s Alaska State Director, Steve Cohn, emphasized the importance of the RAC’s role in a press release announcing Lean’s appointment to the council.
“The newly appointed members represent a wide range of interests and perspectives,” Cohn wrote. “New members reinvigorate energy and ideas to the RAC’s work to benefit the BLM and the public the agency serves.”
In addition to his new role on the RAC, Lean also serves on Nome’s Port Commission and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game’s Advisory Committee. He has also worked with the Library and Museum Commission and does consulting work for Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation.
Lean will travel to Anchorage in November for his first meeting as a member of the council.
