Ron Huntsinger is the new field office manager for the Bureau of Land Management's Bakersfield office. He is currently the field manager in Taos, New Mexico, and will report to his new position in early March.

"Ron brings a solid natural resource management background to the Bakersfield office," said BLM California State Director Mike Pool. "His experience and leadership ability in the field and in the BLM's national headquarters will be a great asset to the knowledgeable BLM staff in Bakersfield."

In Bakersfield, Huntsinger will oversee a field office staff of about 100. The office is responsible for natural resource management on over 600,000 acres of public lands in Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, including the Carrizo Plain National Monument and portions of the California Coastal National Monument.

Huntsinger, who began his career in Alaska, was born in San Bernardino, raised in Great Falls, Montana and educated at Humboldt State University in Arcata, says he looks forward to returning to California.

"I want to continue to build on the successful work already accomplished," said Huntsinger. "I look forward to working with the staff and local communities to address the resource issues we face in the region."

Huntsinger holds a bachelor's degree in physics and studied for a graduate degree in watershed management. During his graduate studies, he worked on several projects as a temporary employee for the Winnemucca, Nevada BLM office. He was eventually hired on full-time as a hydrologist in Anchorage, Alaska.

He became the national program lead for water resources and watershed in Washington, D.C. in 1989, serving in that capacity until 1996. During Ron's Washington Office experience, he completed two, one-year congressional fellowships.

He returned to the West as the field manager in Tonopah, Nevada prior to going to New Mexico in 1999. Recently, he completed the Executive Potential Program as the Interior Department candidate, including two developmental assignments with the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, and as the Deputy Regional Forester for the Southwest Region with the U.S. Forest Service.

During the fire season the Bakersfield staff almost doubles. The office's fire fighting organization has primary responsibility for protecting 1.5 million acres of land from wildfire. The fire fighting resources available out of the Bakersfield office include the Rio Bravo Helitack Crew, Kern Valley Hotshot Crew and engine crews. The field office also operates eight BLM fire stations from mid-April to the end of October each year, during the peak fire season.

The Bakersfield office also oversees the oil and gas program in California as well as an active wild horse and burro adoption program.

Huntsinger replaces Ron Fellows who retired last fall.

Ron will be reunited with his wife Melanie and daughter Alyssa who already live in Bakersfield while Alyssa attends California State University-Bakersfield. Their son, Noel, lives in Oregon.