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Germann Selected BLM Montana/Dakotas Director

Bureau of Land Management director Tracy Stone-Manning has announced that Sonya Germann has been selected as the new BLM Montana/Dakotas state director, starting her position in August.

“Sonya brings a strong background in natural resources and we are excited to work alongside her for the betterment of Montana’s farmers and ranchers, public land and natural resource,” said executive vice president John Youngberg As BLM Montana/Dakotas state director, Germann will also oversee approximately 600 permanent staff and up to 230 career/temporary seasonal employees who help manage a myriad of public land uses and resources, including energy development, livestock grazing, outdoor recreation and the protection and control of wild horses and burros.

Germann’s experiences comes from her time as Montana’s State Forester, heading Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Forestry Division since April 2018 where she led the state’s wildland fire operations, oversaw state and private forestry assistance, and collaborated with governmental and non-governmental partners to address forest health and wildland fire risk issues across ownership boundaries.

Germann first went to work for DNRC in 2004 as a part-time staff person in the Forestry Division’s seedling nursery. In 2007, she was hired full-time as a planner in the Trust Lands Division’s Forest Management Bureau. She was promoted to chief of that bureau in 2012. Before working for the DNRC, Germann worked as a biological sciences technician for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service at the Tongass National Forest in Alaska and was a community rights organizer for the Montana Human Rights Network.

Germann holds bachelor’s degrees in wildlife biology and liberal studies, both from the University of Montana. She is nearing completion of a master’s degree in resource conservation from the University of Montana College of Forestry.

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