Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
At the beginning of the George H. W. Bush administration,Dombeck was assigned as Special Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management [8] and later was named Science Advisor. At the beginning of the Clinton Administration,he was assigned Acting Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Lands and Minerals Management. In 1994 he was appointed acting director of the Bureau of Land Management by Secretary of the Interior,Bruce Babbitt. [9] Dombeck held that position until 1997 when Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman named him the 14th Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. [10]
Dombeck's time at the BLM was marked by a focus on wildlife protection,riparian and aquatic resources and InFish. Dombeck worked closely with then Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas to increase the two agencies' accessibility to public land users,and to promote ecosystem-based management and watershed restoration on public land.
United States Forest Service—Leadership
Dombeck returned to USFS in 1997 as its chief,appointed by Bill Clinton. [7]
In 1997,Dombeck and the Forest Service Leadership team crafted a four-point agenda,known as The Natural Resource Agenda. [11] It emphasized four major topics;watershed health and restoration,ecologically sustainable forest and grasslands management,recreation and a long-term forest roads policy. Dombeck emphasized the importance of clean water as a forest a product,appointing a task force of scientists and economists to the quantity and value of water flowing from the National Forests. [12] He staunchly defended land conservation and science-based management in speeches delivered to U.S. Congress and congressional committees. [13]
Under Dombeck's leadership,the roadless rule was developed,which protected 58 million acres of the most remote national forest lands. The rule began as an 18-month moratorium on road construction,then was made permanent as a result of activism and email campaigns by environmental advocates. [7] This provided the groundwork for enhancing and increasing Americans’experiences in the nation's forests by protecting million acres of the remaining wildest places for outdoor recreation and protecting the health and quality of watersheds and ecosystems. [14] Dombeck also had at least 3500 miles of logging roads destroyed,including in the Clearwater National Forest,where the road network had contributed to a series of hundreds of landslides. [7]
His career in public service was recognized with the highest award in career federal service,the Presidential Rank-Distinguished Executive Award by President George W. Bush in 2001. [15] He was the only person to have led the nation's two largest public land management agencies.
