The 52-year-old Palma worked for the U.S. Forest Service in a variety of locales, including Lake Tahoe, before assuming his role in Las Vegas in 2005 for an office that manages more than 3 million acres of Mojave Desert in Clark and Nye counties.

The 180-person office with a $3.5 million budget isn't your normal BLM office. It oversees auctions of federal land that become the next wave of master planned communities and the office plays an important role in affordable housing.

It manages the largest sand and gravel operation of any BLM office in the country. It also has cell phone, radio and television communication sites it manages. The office oversees recreation programs and the Red Rock and Sloan Canyon conservation areas.

Palma was born and raised in the Yakima Valley in Washington state, where his father had moved after working as a migrant worker from Texas during World War II.

Palma and his wife, Susan, have three children.

What sparked your interest in working in land conservation?

The land was always part of me growing up as a child in the Yakima Valley. I realized people actually work and conserve the land and are stewards of the land such as the Forest Service, Park Service or the BLM or Fish and Wildlife Service. I said holy cow, I can actually get to do something that has always been very fun to me and dear to me, which is stewardship of the land, but on a bigger scale. I thought I found my place.

How did you start your career?

My first job, at the time, with the Forest Service in Eastern Oregon was engineering and timber activities. A lot of survey work needed to be done. I did an awful lot of fire. I have slept dozens and dozens of nights out on the ground fighting fires. As I progressed in the organization, you begin to get further and further away from actual on-the-ground work to more on the managerial side.

We know about the public auctions today. How did the BLM dispose of land in previous years?

There was something before the exchanges, which is called the Santini-Burton Act. Under the act, some of the proceeds went to acquire land in Lake Tahoe. After that were the land exchanges. There were BLM lands somebody wanted, and so they exchanged BLM land here in Las Vegas for some land somewhere else. After that came the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act implemented in 1998. It is definitely a law that impacted this valley, impacted the BLM and many other parts of the state in a very positive way.

What is the law?

What the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act does is that we can take some lands inside the Las Vegas Valley and dispose of those lands — sell those lands. The method we have used to dispose of those lands is the competitive process. Although that is not the only tool we have, it is generally the one we use the most. That is simply put a parcel for sale and people come in an open forum and competitive basis and they compete for the land. Whoever bids the highest price buys the land.

How much revenue have you collected from the auctions?

On the revenue side, thus far, since we have implemented the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, it is roughly $3 billion that we collected in sales. In terms of acres we have sold, it has been in the range of 13,000 acres.

How is that money divided?

The collections from the land sales go into three areas. Area No. 1 is we give 5 percent of all proceeds to the state of Nevada for education. We have given approaching $200 million to the education fund. The second part is 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for purposes of infrastructure and water needs that the valley may have. The remaining 85 percent goes into an account called a secretary's account — the secretary of the Interior — those funds, in that account, are used for specific purposes only. There are six categories with more coming on line. One of those is acquiring sensitive land around the state. We do it for parks, trails and natural areas. We also have some capital improvements for the federal agencies (for conservation) and we fund for the Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

Is the auction process working?

I would say if the measurement is $3 billion, it is pretty successful. Originally, when people implemented SNPLMA, the vision was we will sell the land somewhere in the $300 million range and then we will be done with it. Clearly, we have surpassed those expectations well beyond what anybody ever thought we would do. From that aspect, it has been very successful. On the aspect of the expenditure side, you can look around at all the parks and trails that have been added in the community and many of the other benefits.

How has the slow land market affected you?

With the diminishment in land sales over the past year or so, the revenue is down. We still have a lot of work to do. A parcel today put up for sale is more difficult than say a parcel five to six years ago. But why is that? The parcels that are left now have more complexities, whether there are easements along with them or other kinds of issues. That means we have to devote more energy on one parcel than we did five to six years ago. Another way of saying it is that the low-hanging fruit is gone. Lucky for us that demand is not as high right now so we are able to do that with no consequence to the public.

Are you trying to be more market driven?

Yes. We try to be more business-like in our approach to how we sell those lands, but the other part that the citizens may not now is that we as the BLM don't put up land for sale. The process as set up by the law itself is that we consult with local governments. I sit in council with the mayors and county commissioners to be able to agree upon which parcels are ready to be sold — which lands the local governments feel the infrastructure is already there. We, the BLM, wouldn't put up a parcel for sale by ourselves unless we were asked by local governments to put it up for sale

Could you say no?

We could say no and we have said no sometimes. For example, we still are required to do environmental assessment work on the parcels that we sell. We have to look at archeological and paleontological resources. We have to look at cultural as well as type of plants and animal life in those parcels. In some cases, we have discovered there were precious resources like paleontological and or botanical plants so we say we can't sell right now.

Where have you said no?

One of those areas we have some precious resources not only for us but generations to come is the Las Vegas Wash or conservation transfer area in North Las Vegas and the city of Las Vegas. We have known for decades a lot of saber tooth tigers have been buried there. There are a lot of old fossils. Paleontologists have known for decades there is a vast wealth of buried bones. We are currently doing a study, and it will determine where the boundaries need to be to conserved for generations to come. Whenever we decide where the boundaries are, those lands will not be sold.

Why sell land in large parcels that are impossible for small developers to bid on?

So local communities can have a better planned community where they can take a more holistic approach on the needs of the community from fire stations to schools to roads and infrastructure. I suspect it is a little easier to plan on larger acreage than piecemealing it a little at a time. I can see where that would be beneficial to local governments. From our perspective, we are not completely convinced that one or the other is better. We will always respond to the demands of local governments, and if local governments feel that large parcels are better, we will respond to that need.

What about affordable housing?

The other thing that folks may not know is the 1998 legislation gave us a charge that we were to make available to local governments and other institutions land for affordable housing. We have taken many dozens of parcels inside the valley and set aside about 1,300 acres for affordable housing. That means a lot of parcels that the citizens may think are empty are actually being reserved for affordable housing.

How big are those parcels?

We have a parcel on the east side that is about 400 acres and we have some that are five acres, 10 acres and 20 acres.

How does it work?

Local governments come to us, say to us we would like to preserve this parcel so it will not be sold, and it will be reserved for affordable housing. They may need a little time to work out the details of the affordable housing project. We have done several already, and we are pretty excited about this new venture and new partnership with local governments. The BLM has never been in the business of affordable housing. We don't do the construction. We simply provide the land for affordable housing.

How is it made affordable?

Depending how affordable that project is, we can deduct, off the price of the land, up to 95 percent. If an acre of land sold for a $1 million and the affordable housing project served the most disadvantaged individuals, they can get the highest deduction for that land.

How is that done?

We sell it directly to the jurisdictions. We take the appraised value and then the project is run through HUD and then HUD tells us how much affordable housing will be on that parcel. We deduct by a formula how much to sell that land for.

Are local governments doing enough for affordable housing?

I think we ought to reserve more, and I have said this publicly in many places. I have to tell the citizens that we the BLM don't set it aside. We simply respond to the requests. If a local government comes to us and says we would like to reserve more for affordable housing, we will say fine. We will not sell it on the open market. Local governments are in the driver's seat to set aside even more parcels for affordable housing.

Why aren't they requesting more?

I said before they ought to do more and why they should do more, but there are fewer parcels. Those parcels along the bus system and near shopping centers make the most sense to have some affordable housing. Do we have other lands? Yes, but they seem to be far away from the city and infrastructure.

Why aren't they doing it?

I don't know. I suspect there are not a lot of demands for that land, but certainly they can. We need to do more. We need to lengthen our stride for affordable housing. I am passionate about it. Affordable housing isn't an abstract concept for me. It is deep in my soul. I grew up in affordable housing. I grew up in the migrant camps in the Yakima Valley. I know what it's like to live in affordable housing. It is only in America where you can progress from the migrant fields to manage the BLM in Las Vegas.

Some people have called on the BLM to auction more land to help lower prices and make housing more affordable. What do you think about that?

I suspect to some folks we are similar to the Federal Reserve Bank, that we can control the price of the market. There are so many variables in the market, including the private land in the market and so many other projects out there in the community. I think we are one of the components of the marketplace and beyond that, we, the BLM, in and of ourselves, do no put up land because the infrastructure may not be there. We have to consult and do a joint selection with local government so they can decide whether a parcel is ready to be sold. It doesn't serve the community well for us, the BLM, to sell land willy-nilly out there. That is why we don't do it.

How many acres have been auctioned?

We have sold about 13,000 acres. We have 1,300 acres set aside for affordable housing. We also do a lot of (leases of land) for schools and parks. We have 15,000 acres set aside for schools and parks and other activities, but we still have about 29,000 acres to be sold. At the rate we're going, it will take a little while, but generally we are averaging somewhere in the range of about 3,000 to 4,000 acres a year. When you do the math, it will take easily another decade, but if the market continues as soft as it is right now, it will take longer than that.

Are there areas where development would occur if the boundaries were extended?

The boundaries can be expanded or shrunk given the will of Congress. We will respond accordingly. Some parts of the valley have been extended as far as they can. When you look towards the west, you have Red Rock. There may be some opportunities on the north, northwest side of the city as you go up towards Indian Springs. There is quite a bit of land in that area. As you go south toward California, there are still places down there as well. Those are the places where there is a lot of BLM land.

What are the opportunities to the south?

As you go south toward California along I-15, there is a proposal to construct the new Ivanpah airport. That airport received from the BLM about 6,000 acres for the airport proper itself. Should the airport be constructed, there is an additional 17,000 acres as a buffer around that airport that we, the BLM, would sell to the county. There are several other lands as well. There is a location that we take our tortoises and put them, just east of Jean. But east of there and north of there could be lands that could be disposed perhaps in the future. Congress will have to tell us that we can dispose of those lands.

What about areas west of I-15?

That is tortoise habitat at this point in time.

What about moving that habitat to pave the way for development?

That would have to be a discussion with the Fish and Wildlife Service. They are the key agency that manages the issue of tortoises. We don't manage wildlife. What we manage is the habitat.

Do you foresee a big fight in the future between environmentalists and business over developing more land?

I don't see it that way. I have been in meetings on the conservation transfer area for the last few months where citizens, environmental groups and the development community, the cities and others come together. I think there are good conversations going on right now. Are there disagreements? Yes there are, but I don't see them as impassable.

What about making more land available for industrial use?

We have done that in the past with Apex. That was all BLM land and was set aside as an industrial complex. It hasn't materialized completely. Can we set aside more industrial land in the future? We would respond to local jurisdictions. If they say they need or want some additional industrial areas and there is BLM land, we would respond to that.

How do you see your mission changing in the future?

It has already changed. This is an unusual BLM office. There is no other office in the country that deals with affordable housing. There is no other office that has SNPLMA. There is no office in the country that has the size of communications or sand and gravel sites or the other things we do. This is a different BLM office, but it is the new BLM. The demographics across the West are changing. They are changing in Las Vegas and Phoenix. They are changing in Salt Lake City and Tucson. They are also changing in population size. The small little cities that were here 20 or 30 years ago are large cities. The BLM that was just outside the city is in the middle of the city. The BLM of the West is beginning to change. You see it more dramatically here in Las Vegas, but it is occurring in many other parts of the West.

Is there a paradox between conserving land and making it available for development?

Clearly all of these challenges and all this new BLM I speak about can pose a tremendous paradox, but the good thing that is occurring is that there is a vision for all of that activity. The vision is why we set aside land for sale and why we set aside land for generations to come.

Anything else you want to add?

As we move forward in the future, we are going to have to look at different funding streams to fund all the activities that we have. Clearly, this office cannot achieve its vision through the normal paradigms of funding of a normal BLM office. We have to be creative. We have to be innovative. We are going to have to ask our elected office through crisp ways and answers of what we need from them.

Clearly, the unintended consequences of these land sales is that we have added a whole lot of workload that we didn't think would be here. Every time we sell one acre of a land, there is 30 percent of land that we have to encumber through a road or street or pipeline or this or that to get water and infrastructure. It is a lot more than selling one acre of property. It is all the other activities that need to be put together. There is a need for other kinds of funding that we didn't think about when we started SNPLMA.