The new director of the Bureau of Land Management for Colorado arrived in Durango on Tuesday for a four-day orientation tour of Southwest Colorado.

Ruth Welch will visit Silverton; the ghost town of Animas Forks; BLM holdings around Durango, including the Perins Peak State Wildlife Area and Grandview; the Tres Rios field office in Dolores; and the Spring Creek area.

“A major goal will be to balance development and conservation,” Welch said in an interview with The Durango Herald. “I have the collaborative skills to bring diverse elements to the table.”

Management of habitat for the Gunnison sage-grouse will demand her skills. The range of the fowl is basically in Colorado but with a smidgen of territory in Utah.

Four public hearings on the issue have been well attended, she said. Fifty-five people turned out in Dove Creek.

Welch was accompanied by Matt Azhocar, associate director of the BLM’s Southwest District; Connie Clementson, manager of the Tres Rios field office; and Lori Armstrong, district manager of the Southwest District.

Welch was born in Aurora. She graduated from Western State College with a degree in sociology and English literature in 1986. She has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado, earned in 2000.

Welch’s professional career began with the Office of Surface Mining in 1989. She moved to the BLM in 1993, working in Wyoming, Virginia and Washington, D.C. She was made acting director of the BLM in Colorado in February 2014 and was sworn in as director on May 19.

Among other issues Welch expects to tackle in balancing development and conservation are gas and oil activities, grazing allotments, utility corridors, tourism, water and invasive weeds.

Welch also will have to sign a broad resource management plan expected to be ready by the end of the year.

The U.S. Forest Service, which faces similar challenging issues, has adopted its resource-management plan.

daler@durangoherald.com