Outstanding Public Lands Professional Awards - 2007

Manager/Managerial - Administrative Category

Dennis Stenger
Dennis Stenger

DENNIS STENGER, Bureau of Land Management Buffalo, Wyoming, Field Office Manager, has received the Outstanding Public Land Professional Award for 2007 from the Public Lands Foundation.

“We are pleased to present Mr. Stenger with this award in recognition of his many years of service in the management of public land resources,” said PLF President George Lea.  “Dennis Stenger has proven himself, time and again, as capable of tackling some of the most challenging multiple use issues in the nation, in some of the most high-profile and controversial settings in the west.”

Mr. Stenger has served as manager in the Rock Springs Office; as Field Manager in the Buffalo and Pinedale Field Offices; as Supervisory Geologist in the Division of Minerals and Lands for the Wyoming State Office, and as Deputy State Director of Minerals in the New Mexico State Office.

As Field Manager of the Buffalo Field Office, Stenger’s leadership during the development and implementation of the Powder River Basin Oil and Gas EIS ensured orderly and timely development of coalbed natural gas, as well as conventional oil and gas development while providing exceptional stewardship to all uses of the public land.  As Field Manager of the Pinedale Field Office, Stenger’s leadership has been critical in ensuring the successful implementation of the Jonah Interagency Office – one of the first of its kind in the country.  This office provides interagency oversight of mineral development in the Jonah area ensuring protection and enhancement of wildlife habitat.

Lea said, “Dennis has exhibited outstanding personal courage and risk-taking and making tough decisions to take controversial positions in favor of long-term public interest in land conservation and protection throughout his career with BLM.

This achievement will be permanently inscribed on the “Hall of Fame Award” plaque at the Bureau of Land Management headquarters in Washington, D. C.  This is another example of a professional career employee’s willingness to chart new direction in protecting and enhancing natural resources.