Name Kathleen Clarke Role Bureau of Land Management | Education Utah State University | |
 | ||
Senator mike lee and kathleen clarke agree sage grouse should be managed by states
Kathleen Burton Clarke was the national director of the United States Bureau of Land Management from 2001–2006.
Clarke received her bachelor's degree from Utah State University. She was a law student at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.
Clarke is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was raised in Bountiful, Utah. She was the daughter of Hubert C. Burton, a physician, and his wife the former Elaine Nelson.
Prior to becoming director of the BLM, Clarke served as the executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources. She had worked as a staffer for James V. Hansen and Senator Wallace F. Bennett before that.
During her directing of the BLM it was often criticized by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for allowing oil drilling at low cost. This action increased domestic oil production and decreased oil production costs, thus keeping the rise in fuel costs below what it otherwise might have been.
Clarke sought to increase energy resource development on public lands. She was criticized for policies that ended up slaughtering many wild horses.
Clarke later served as deputy commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.