(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to confirm Montana conservationist Tracy Stone-Manning to lead the Bureau of Land Management.
Stone-Manning, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, secured confirmation by a vote of 50-45.
The bureau, a division of the Interior Department, manages more than a tenth of the nation's surface area. As its director, Stone-Manning will be central to Biden's effort to address climate change through the management of public lands, including a current review of the federal oil and gas leasing program.
Stone-Manning most recently was the senior adviser for conservation policy at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), where she advocated against the Trump administration's push to maximize fossil-fuel production on public lands at the expense of other land uses.
Prior to joining the NWF in 2017, Stone-Manning served as chief of staff to Democratic former Montana Governor Steve Bullock. She has also worked for Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana.
Stone-Manning's nomination faced opposition from Republicans due to her ties to a decades-old tree-spiking incident. Tree spiking involves hammering a metal rod into a tree to prevent logging.
Republican Senator John Barrasso voiced those concerns in a speech on the Senate floor prior to the vote.
Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin expressed support for Stone-Manning, underscoring her decades as a public servant.