Tracy Stone-Manning is a left-of-center environmentalist activist and Democratic Party staffer who worked for the National Wildlife Federation. In April 2021, she was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as Director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). ¹

Her BLM nomination has raised concerns because of her involvement with radical organization Earth First, her prior partisan attacks on Republican candidates and officials, and her past anti-development policy positions that conflict with BLM’s mission to balance public and private interests on federal lands. ^{2 3}

Education and Family

Stone-Manning received a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and film from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Montana. ⁴

Stone-Manning’s husband, Richard Manning, ⁵ is a radical environmental journalist and author. In his book Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization, ⁶ Manning called for an end to large-scale modern agriculture. He has said, “If the human endeavor takes as its primary reason for being the feeding of however many people issue from senseless acts of reproduction, then the human endeavor is pointless.” ⁷

In 2018, Manning published an article blaming home construction in areas in and around forests for increasing the cost and danger of forest fires, writing “There’s a rude and satisfying justice in burning down the house of someone who builds in the forest.” ⁸ During deadly West Coast wildfires in 2020, Stone-Manning retweeted her husband’s article, calling it a “clarion call.” ⁹

Earth First

While a graduate student at the University of Montana, Stone-Manning became involved with radical environmentalist organization Earth First, becoming a spokesperson for the group. ¹⁰ In 1989, she edited and mailed an anonymous letter to the U.S. Forest Service that warned of having “spiked” trees in Idaho to make them potentially deadly to lumberjacks. “You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could get hurt,” it read. ¹¹

Stone-Manning claimed that she had sent the letter so that no loggers would be harmed by the spiked trees, but she did not aid investigators until prosecutors launched a grand jury investigation. In 1993, she received immunity from prosecution to testify in the successful trial of the activists who had carried out the tree spiking. ¹²

Early Career and Government Service in Montana

Stone-Manning worked in environmentalist organizations in Montana that were active in opposing projects in mining, energy, logging, and other major state industries. ^{13 14}

In 2007, she joined the staff of U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), and was selected in 2013 by Governor Steve Bullock (D-MT) to lead the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. ¹⁵

In November 2014, Stone-Manning became Bullock’s chief of staff. A fact check found that during her four-year tenure, Montana’s general fund spending increased by $800 million, or 25 percent. ¹⁶

National Wildlife Federation

Stone-Manning joined the National Wildlife Federation in 2017 as associate vice president for Public Lands. ¹⁷ She is currently its senior advisor for Conservation Policy.

At NWF, she has promoted policies that include a “pause” on new energy exploration on public lands, new bonding conditions that would add billions of dollars of costs to oil and gas production, and removing rules that kept federal oil and gas lease sales from being disrupted by radical activists. ¹⁸

She was referred to as “one of the harshest critics” of President Donald Trump’s final acting Bureau of Land Management Director William Pendley, writing that he “should never have been allowed inside BLM’s doors.” ^{19 20}

Nomination as Bureau of Land Management Director

In April 2021, Stone-Manning was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as director of the Bureau of Land Management. ²¹ A coalition of left-leaning environmentalist groups said she would ensure that the BLM would “contribute to our nation’s transition to a net-zero energy future.” ²²

Her nomination raised opposition from senators and others concerned about her prior anti-development policy positions, her partisan attacks on elected and appointed Republican officials, and her involvement with Earth First. ^{23 24 25 26}

Former Obama administration BLM Director Bob Abbey withdrew his support once her involvement in the Earth First tree-spiking was publicized, saying “My position is if she participated in any aspect of planning, implementing, or attempting to cover up the spiking incident on timberlands managed by the US Forest Service then she should not be confirmed.” ²⁷

1. “President Biden Announces 12 Key Climate and Infrastructure Administration Nominations,” The White House (The United States Government, April 27, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/president-biden-announces-12-key-climate-and-infrastructure-administration-nominations/.
2. https://apnews.com/article/ak-state-wire-donald-trump-government-and-politics-science-environment-and-nature-467f89f90eb554abcbba92c3efcd9d85
3. Scott Streater, “INTERIOR: Stone-Manning Makes Her Case for BLM Director,” EENews (Energy & Environment News, June 8, 2021), https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063734451.
4. Judith Kohler, “NWF Taps Montana Governor’s Top Aide to Lead Public Lands Program,” National Wildlife Federation, September 14, 2017, https://www.nwf.org/Home/Latest-News/Press-Releases/2017/9-14-2017-Stone-Manning-Leads-Public-Lands.
5. “President Biden Announces 12 Key Climate and Infrastructure Administration Nominations,” The White House (The United States Government, April 27, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/president-biden-announces-12-key-climate-and-infrastructure-administration-nominations/.
6. Richard Manning, “AGAINST THE GRAIN How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization,” Macmillan Publishers, January 13, 2005, https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780865477131.
7. “Manning, Richard 1951–,” Encyclopedia.com (Encyclopedia.com), accessed July 8, 2021, https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/manning-richard-1951.
8. Richard Manning, “[Report] Mega-Fires in the West,” Harper’s Magazine, November 10, 2018, https://harpers.org/archive/2018/08/lolo-peak-rice-ridge-mega-fires/.
9. Houston Keene, “Biden Nominee for Land Agency Touted Husband’s Suggestion to Let Houses Caught in Forest Fires ‘Burn’,” Fox News (FOX News Network, July 2, 2021), https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-blm-nominee-husband-houses-forest-fires-burn.
10. Dino Grandoni and Josh Partlow, “As a Student, Tracy Stone-Manning Sent a Letter on Behalf of Eco-Saboteurs. It’s Now Complicating Her Chance to Lead the Bureau of Land Management.,” The Washington Post (WP Company, July 6, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/07/04/student-tracy-stone-manning-sent-letter-behalf-eco-saboteurs-its-now-complicating-her-chance-lead-bureau-land-management/.
11. Dino Grandoni and Josh Partlow, “As a Student, Tracy Stone-Manning Sent a Letter on Behalf of Eco-Saboteurs. It’s Now Complicating Her Chance to Lead the Bureau of Land Management.,” The Washington Post (WP Company, July 6, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/07/04/student-tracy-stone-manning-sent-letter-behalf-eco-saboteurs-its-now-complicating-her-chance-lead-bureau-land-management/.
12. Scott Streater, “NOMINATIONS: Administration Backs BLM Pick as ‘Extreme’ Ties Questioned,” NOMINATIONS: Administration backs BLM pick as ‘extreme’ ties questioned — Monday, June 14, 2021 (E&E News, June 14, 2021), https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063734867.
13. “Tracy Stone Manning, MS 1992,” College of Humanities and Sciences / Environmental Studies – University Of Montana, accessed July 8, 2021, https://hs.umt.edu/evst/stories-folder/tracy-stone-manning.php.
14. Dino Grandoni and Josh Partlow, “As a Student, Tracy Stone-Manning Sent a Letter on Behalf of Eco-Saboteurs. It’s Now Complicating Her Chance to Lead the Bureau of Land Management.,” The Washington Post (WP Company, July 6, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/07/04/student-tracy-stone-manning-sent-letter-behalf-eco-saboteurs-its-now-complicating-her-chance-lead-bureau-land-management/.
15. “President Biden Announces 12 Key Climate and Infrastructure Administration Nominations,” The White House (The United States Government, April 27, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/president-biden-announces-12-key-climate-and-infrastructure-administration-nominations/.
16. Corey Eucalitto, “Fact Check/Did Montana Spending Increase $800 Million under Steve Bullock,” Ballotpedia, November 1, 2016, https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Did_Montana_spending_increase_$800_million_under_Steve_Bullock.
17. Judith Kohler, “NWF Taps Montana Governor’s Top Aide to Lead Public Lands Program,” National Wildlife Federation, September 14, 2017, https://www.nwf.org/Home/Latest-News/Press-Releases/2017/9-14-2017-Stone-Manning-Leads-Public-Lands.
18. Tracy Stone-Manning, “Testimony of Tracy Stone-Manning,” National Wildlife Federation, March 9, 2021, https://www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/Press-Releases/2021/03-09-21_Stone-Manning-Testimony.
19. Bertram, Aubrey, Tracy Stone-Manning, and Alec Underwood. “Plans William Perry Pendley Approved Must Now Be Revoked.” Great Falls Tribune. Great Falls Tribune, October 6, 2020. https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/opinion/2020/10/06/plans-william-perry-pendley-approved-must-now-revoked/5900022002/.
20. Roy, Adam. “She Was the Bureau of Land Management Director’s Harshest Critic. Now, She May Be His Replacement.” Backpacker, April 15, 2021. https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/she-was-the-blm-directors-harshest-critic-now-she-may-be-his-replacement/.
21. “President Biden Announces 12 Key Climate and Infrastructure Administration Nominations,” The White House (The United States Government, April 27, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/president-biden-announces-12-key-climate-and-infrastructure-administration-nominations/.
22. Bahouth, Brian. “Conservation Groups Call on Senate to Confirm Tracy Stone-Manning as Bureau of Land Management Director.” Sierra Nevada Ally, June 7, 2021. https://www.sierranevadaally.org/2021/06/07/conservation-groups-call-on-senate-to-confirm-tracy-stone-manning-as-bureau-of-land-management-director/.
23. Mike Jordan, “Biden’s Bureau of Land Management Pick Grilled over 30-Year Old Protest,” The Guardian (Guardian News and Media, July 6, 2021), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/06/tracy-stone-manning-bureau-of-land-management-nomination-protest.
24. https://apnews.com/article/ak-state-wire-donald-trump-government-and-politics-science-environment-and-nature-467f89f90eb554abcbba92c3efcd9d85
25. Scott Streater, “INTERIOR: Stone-Manning Makes Her Case for BLM Director,” EENews (Energy & Environment News, June 8, 2021), https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063734451.
26. Jacob Fischler, “Public Lands Pick Tracy Stone-Manning Fends off Objections from U.S. Senate Republicans,” Colorado Newsline, June 9, 2021, https://coloradonewsline.com/2021/06/09/public-lands-pick-tracy-stone-manning-fends-off-objections-from-u-s-senate-republicans/.
27. Valerie Richardson, “Obama’s BLM Director Pulls Support for Tracy Stone-Manning over Tree-Spiking Incident,” The Washington Times (The Washington Times, June 20, 2021), https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jun/20/obama-blm-director-tracy-stone-manning-should-with/.