WASHINGTON — Utah native Luke Johnson will be the Bureau of Land Management's new deputy director for program and policy, BLM director Jim Caswell announced Friday.

Johnson, 32, who has been the bureau's chief of staff since December 2006, is extremely familiar with the bureau's responsibilities, having worked elsewhere in the department and in House and Senate offices that dealt with the country's public lands.

"It has been a consistent set of issues," Johnson said in an interview Friday.

The Sandy native previously handled energy, natural resource and agricultural issues for Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah and worked for then-Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, on the House Committee on Resources for the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands

"With his executive and legislative experience, combined with his keen knowledge of natural resource issues and conscientious dedication to his work, Luke is the right choice for moving our agency forward in its multiple-use mission," Caswell said.

Johnson said he knows what is it like to sit behind a lawmaker at a congressional hearing but his new position will put him "at the other side of the table" if he has to testify before Congress.

He said his Western background helps him appreciate the importance of the land issues BLM handles. The BLM manages more land — 258 million surface acres — than any other federal agency, with most of it concentrated in 12 Western states, including Utah.

Johnson went from the Hill in 2006 to serve as chief of Congressional and Legislative Affairs for the Bureau of Reclamation, then moved over to BLM late last year.

Johnson graduated magna cum laude in political science from Utah State University in 1999. He lives in the Virginia suburbs with his wife Hillary and their four children.

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