Since 2003, the Bureau of Land Management's Office of Law Enforcement and Security and the Western States Sheriffs’ Association have met annually to discuss public-land-use issues in 11 Western states. BLM is the largest land management agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne showed his support for the WSSA and all of BLM's cooperative agreements by attending the meeting with the sheriffs. During his extended time there, Kempthorne reaffirmed his strong support of local law-enforcement partnerships. He also assured the sheriffs that the department would continue to work closely with them as more and more public land users come to the public lands.

"The fall summit hosted by BLM is a wonderful opportunity for cooperation and partnership between the two organizations, furthering the good relationships between the counties and our law enforcement organization," Kempthorne said.

BLM originally formed its partnership with WSSA through a memorandum of understanding in 1998. Since that time, many law-enforcement management actions and initiatives have occurred on both sides. These have resulted in the development of very positive, open lines of communications and an even stronger partnership between the two organizations.

During annual summits each November, BLM and WSSA invite county sheriffs from each of the western states to Washington, D.C. The BLM Law Enforcement and Security director, William Woody, utilizes the forum to invite other departmental law enforcement chiefs to provide overviews and discuss any changes within their programs that may have an effect on the county sheriffs. The U.S. Forest Service, under the Department of Agriculture, also provides program information to the sheriffs.

C. Stephen Allred, assistant secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management, along with BLM Deputy Director Henri Bisson, opened the 2007 summit on Nov. 6. Also attending were Larry Parkinson, the deputy assistant Interior secretary for the Office of Law Enforcement, Security, and Emergency Management, and departmental Law Enforcement Director Kim Thorsen.

The 2007 summit agenda provided a forum for presentations and discussions on numerous topics, including the following:

• BLM grants, contracts and memoranda of understanding
• BLM wildland-fire issues
• Bureau of Indian Affairs cross-delegation for county sheriffs
• Partnership building from the American Sand Association, the United   Desert Gateway and the Off-Road Business Association
• BLM’s marijuana-eradication initiatives
• Rural crimes initiative from the San Juan County, New Mexico Sheriff
• The Southwest Border Sheriff’s Coalition
  

Illegal activities on the international border with Mexico continue to increase, including degradation and destruction of natural resources near the border. The southwestern borderlands are most often defined as those lands about 100 miles north of the border of Mexico. For BLM, this consists of about 155 miles of land at the border and 3.7 million acres in Arizona, 1.8 million acres in New Mexico and 3.3 million acres in California. Issues include human trafficking, drug smuggling and theft and damages of resources. The violence that human and drug smuggling organizations commit remains a concern for employee and visitor safety on the public lands. Drug smuggling, particularly of processed marijuana, continues to increase. According to statistics from the El Paso Intelligence Center, federal, state or local agencies seized 132,937 pounds of marijuana on BLM lands in 2007. During this same period, law enforcement apprehended 56,237 undocumented immigrants.

As part of BLM’s commitment to international border enforcement issues, many of our special agents-in-charge are members of state High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area organizations. These organizations are made up of federal, state and local law-enforcement organizations combating drug activities along the border.  BLM strives to work with its partner county sheriffs and the U.S. Border Patrol to address these issues.

“It is our hope that, through these summits, BLM and WSSA can reinforce our close working relationship,” Woody said. “This is an opportunity to bring Western sheriffs out to D.C. and work through some of our processes, as well as talking over major issues as a group. It is invaluable to be able to bring a group of people like this into the same place, so that we can all work together even better when we’re back on the ground.”

WSSA President Andrew Bentz, Malheur County (Oregon) sheriff, said he was pleased with the summit. He thanked BLM for providing after-hours activities and tours created just for the sheriffs. Bentz has been a strong advocate for ensuring that BLM and WSSA continue to come together to discuss land-management and law-enforcement issues.

BLM and WSSA are already planning for the 2008 summit. The upcoming summit promises to be even more productive and energetic, as public-land uses continue to impact county sheriffs in the vast western United States.