RIVERDALE, N.D. (AP) - Casey Buechler is the new lake manager on Lake Sakakawea for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Buechler, a Minot native, spent the past three years as the lead natural resources specialist with the Bureau of Land Management office in Billings, Mont.
He has more than 20 years of experience with four different federal agencies: U.S. Air Force, corps of Engineers, Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management working in Colorado, Alaska, North Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota.
Todd Lindquist, Garrison project manager for the corps, said Buechler is a good fit for the post on a number of fronts.
“He’s passionate about the outdoors,” Lindquist told The Bismarck Tribune (https://bit.ly/1iUX6SX ). “He’d previously worked for me as a natural resources specialist in our Williston office, so he understands what the folks on the ground do and what the needs around the project entail.”
With the BLM, Buechler said, he was in charge of environmental protection issues primarily dealing with oil and natural gas leases. Prior to that he was the field manager for BLM’s Glasgow office.
Buechler will oversee the corps’ staff of 12 natural resource specialists based out of the Riverdale office as well as the Williston and Jamestown offices.
His duties will include managing the corps’ recreation program, overseeing the endangered species program and the archaeological program.
Buechler said he’s looking forward to the challenges the new job will bring.
“I learned to fish on the Van Hook Arm,” he said, so it’s a homecoming for him.
Buechler he knows there are some major issues facing the corps and the lake.
“There is so much activity, especially on the west end of the lake,” he said.
He said between pipelines, transmission lines and oil activity, he will have a full plate.
“There are a lot of big-ticket projects going on, so it will a matter of keeping all of the balls in the air,” he said.
Buechler said in the month he has been on the job, he has been getting up to speed on issues around the lake.
The downstream campground received considerable damage during the 2011 flood, but he said everything is good to go now.
Buechler said his top priority will be to manage the resources in a way that will be most beneficial to the public.
“We want to be the best stewards of the public lands that we can be,” he said.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, https://www.bismarcktribune.com
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