January 10, 2011 09:19 PM UTC

Mercurial Strickland Jilts Interior

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Hill reports, not much else to say:

Interior Department Chief of Staff Tom Strickland, who is also a top conservation official with the department, is leaving the department in February after about two years on the job.

Strickland is both chief of staff and Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. The Senate confirmed Strickland as assistant secretary in late April 2009.

“Tom has been a driving force in standing up our Interior leadership team, launching a 21st century conservation agenda, leading initiatives such as the Everglades restoration, and helping restore the Gulf after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday in a statement…

The Hill reports that another familiar name to locals, Will Shafroth, will take over for Strickland as assistant secretary for fish and wildlife on an interim basis–former Mark Udall staffer Laura Daniel Davis will take Strickland’s other position as chief of staff for Secretary Ken Salazar, rightly noted. From what we’ve heard, Strickland’s departure is as uncontroversial as all parties suggest, and he just has a range of high-profile (not to mention higher income) jobs to pick from.