The facilities at a wildfire management and operations center in Grand Junction will be replaced as part of a $6.1 million investment announced by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Haaland announced the investment will touring the Grand Junction Air Center.

Haaland also met with state and local officials to discuss the future of the Bureau of Land Management headquarters in Grand Junction.

At the air center, a dispatch and air tanker base of the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit, Haaland said older, structurally deficient buildings with be replaced by a single building. Repairs to the concrete apron at the tanker base will bring the apron into compliance with federal requirements.

The renovations are intended to keep workers safe and increase efficiency while decreasing operation costs.

“We owe the brave women and men on the front lines the right tools and training they need to protect our communities and our lands from the increasing threat of fire,” she said. “By making smart investments in critical infrastructure as well as climate resilience, we will strengthen our wildland fire prepared and response across the West.”

The center supports wildfire fighting efforts and is the only facility that can support large air tanker coverage for Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

Haaland also met with state and local officials, who made the case to keep the BLM headquarters in Grand Junction.

The U.S. Department of Interior announced in 2019 plans to relocate BLM headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction as well as reassign BLM staff to other locations closer to the public lands the federal agency manages.

BLM headquarters could be moved back to Washington under the Joe Biden administration, however.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republication whose 3rd Congressional District covers Western Colorado, introduced legislation to keep the BLM headquarters in Grand Junction and BLM employees in western states.

Boebert stated in a news release issued after the meeting with Haaland in Grand Junction it makes sense for land managers to work and live near the areas and people affected by their decisions. Moreover, moving BLM headquarters back to Washington would be costly, she said.