Former Idaho state Bureau of Land Management director could lead agency under Biden

Steve Ellis, former supervisor of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and a former Baker City resident, is a candidate to run the Bureau of Land Management for at least part of 2021.

Both The Hill newspaper and E&E News report that Ellis, who worked as Wallowa-Whitman supervisor from October 2004 to October 2010, is among those that President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team is considering to appoint as acting BLM chief.

Within a year or so Biden would have to nominate someone as BLM chief, a position that must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Ellis, or another candidate, could serve in that position temporarily without Senate confirmation.

Ellis, 67, declined to comment on the situation in an email to the Herald.

He wrote that he and his wife, Linda, live at Beavercreek, near Oregon City.

Steve Ellis left the Wallowa-Whitman supervisor’s job in October 2010 when he was hired as Idaho state director for the BLM.

In July 2013 he was named deputy director for operations for the BLM. He retired from the BLM in November 2016.

Linda Ellis, a family nurse practitioner, worked as St. Luke’s Clinic-Eastern Oregon Medical Associates in Baker City until 2014, when the couple moved to Beavercreek to be near their children and five grandchildren, Steve Ellis wrote.

Linda Ellis retired on June 30, 2020, from a medical clinic at Molalla.