Steve Ellis accepts BLM job in Idaho

Steve Ellis is leaving Baker City after six years as supervisor of the Wallowa-Whitman Forest.

Ellis is returning to the federal agency for which he’s worked for the majority of his 31-year federal career: the Bureau of Land Management.

Ellis has been hired as BLM’s Idaho state director.

He starts his new job Oct. 11.

The Idaho state office is in Boise.

“I’ve had a wonderful experience on the Wallowa-Whitman,” Ellis said. “I will miss all the people in the community I have worked with. I am looking forward to new challenges in Idaho.”

Ellis, 56, started his federal career with the BLM in 1979 at Burley, Idaho, where he worked as a forester.

In 1986 he was named BLM’s area manager in Shoshone, Idaho, and in 1992 he moved to Washington, D.C., to work in the agency’s budget division. Ellis also served as a Congressional Legislative Fellow in the nation’s capital.

In 1996 he was hired as acting associate district manager for BLM’s Las Vegas District, where he worked until moving to Lakeview in 1997.

Ellis worked as district manager in Lakeview until he moved to Baker City in October 2004 to supervise the Wallowa-Whitman.