News Release Archive

Reclamation Names New Manager for Albuquerque Area Office

Media Contact: Barry Wirth, (801) 524-3774, 02/17/2010 22:04
Mary Carlson, mcarlson@usbr.gov

For Release: February 17, 2010

The Bureau of Reclamation has named a new manager for the Albuquerque Area Office. Mike Hamman, who is currently the Executive Director of the Trinity River Restoration Program in northern California, will manage one of the most diverse and critical programs in Reclamation, according to Upper Colorado Regional Director Larry Walkoviak.

"Mike has an extensive background and broad range of experience related to endangered species recovery work," said Walkoviak, who continued, "Mike's demonstrated strengths in consensus-building and his collaborative management style will be invaluable to the Albuquerque Area Office." Hamman will report to Albuquerque on March 22, 2010.

The Trinity River Restoration Program is a multi-agency collaborative salmon recovery project. In New Mexico, the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Act Collaborative Program and the efforts to protect the endangered silvery minnow closely parallel the salmon project, both in complexity and in the national spotlight.

This will be Hamman's second assignment in Albuquerque, where he worked for the Area Office in the late 1980s and 1990s, including a period as the Resource Management Division Director. In that role, he had responsibilities for reservoir and river operations, planning, endangered species recovery coordination, and land and recreation management for ten Reclamation projects in southern Colorado and New Mexico.

Hamman's experiences also include serving as the Regional Water Planning Director for the New Mexico Interstate Streams Commission where he worked closely with local governments and tribes. He later became the City of Santa Fe's first water utility director, leaving the city to work with the Jicarilla Apache Nation in assisting the Tribe with its water management and on-reservation development.

As manager of the Albuquerque Area Office, Hamman will oversee 167 staff located in Albuquerque, Chama, Elephant Butte, and Socorro in New Mexico; Alamosa, Colorado; and El Paso, Texas. The office is one of the largest area offices in Reclamation with management responsibilities for nine major dams with a combined reservoir storage capacity of more than 3.5 million acre-feet. Those projects supply water to more than 439,000 acres of irrigated land. Municipal and industrial water is supplied throughout the office's jurisdiction. The office also works closely with 19 Native American pueblos and three tribes. Hamman will be responsible for Reclamation projects on both the Rio Grande and Pecos River systems.

Hamman was raised in Taos, New Mexico, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of New Mexico. He is a registered Professional Engineer in New Mexico. Hamman and his wife Sally have raised four children and say they are eager to return to their roots in New Mexico.

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