Bullock an initial board member for public lands foundation

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and former Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze are two of the first four board members of a new nonprofit foundation created to help leverage public and private funds to conserve, protect and restore land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The other two board members for the Foundation for America's Public Lands who were named Wednesday are Maite Arce, who founded the Hispanic Access Foundation and Stacy Leeds, is a professor of law and leadership at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will name another five board members in the coming months, the agency said. Board members will serve staggered terms of four and six years.

BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning was Bullock's chief of staff for three of the eight years he was governor.

Kornze was director of the BLM from 2014-2017 and is the CEO of the Campion Advocacy Fund and Campion Foundation. The organization works to protect wildlands and to combat homelessness in Washington state.

Congress authorized the Foundation for America's Public Lands in 2017. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service have similar foundations.