Bergman also pointed out Leavitt worked with a bipartisan coalition of Great Lakes lawmakers and local officials to secure federal funding to build a barrier to keep out the Asian carp — a serious threat to the Great Lakes ecosystem.

One of many partners in that effort was Chicago's Democratic Mayor Richard Daley.

"He has spent a lot of time up there building relationships, and it has been an across-the-board bipartisan effort," Bergman said. "The results speak for themselves up there."

But conservationists dismissed the Great Lakes trips — and others like them to hotly contested "battleground" states — as nothing more than not-so-subtle campaigning for the president to "green up" a dismal environmental record that is characterized more by aiding the administration's "corporate allies."

"It is quite clear they were vulnerable on the environment," said Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust.

If Bush was vulnerable, then Democratic challenger John Kerry, a sponsor of Utah's Redrock Wilderness Act, did not make much hay out of it. In fact, environment was a non-issue throughout much of the campaign as voters worried more about the war in Iraq, terrorism and the economy.

Conservationists insist the environment was on voters' minds, pointing to Washington state where voters approved a ban on accepting anymore radioactive wastes, and to the 111 of 147 land conservation ballot initiatives that passed (mostly in the West).

Utah's bond initiative for open space, which failed, was not mentioned.

Mark Clemens, coordinator for the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club, said Utah is much slower than surrounding states to embrace open space and renewable energy initiatives.

And he also is concerned about the prospects of four more years of a Bush administration philosophy where anything goes. He points to rampant ORV damage in the Ogden Range District of the Forest Service in areas that are supposed to be off-limits. And the Forest Service has done nothing to halt it.

"I think that is symptomatic of the problems we see (with the Bush administration)," he said. "And there is little prospect this administration will do better."

Clemens cited a Leavitt interview with the Los Angeles Times in which he called the election "a validation of the philosophy and the agenda."

"It doesn't sound like he will be aggressive" in enforcing environmental laws, Clemens said, pointing out enforcement actions by the EPA have fallen dramatically during the Bush administration.

Bolstered by armies of newly registered young voters who are more concerned about the environment, groups across the country are hoping the environment will become a major issue — perhaps a deciding one — in the next election.

Clapp warned the Republican majority that it "runs a significant political risk" if it dismantles environmental protections. He pointed to the 1996 mid-term elections when the environmental rollbacks implemented by the 1994 Congress became a campaign issue and Republicans lost seats.

Until then, "the environment is likely to be one of the top targets on Capitol Hill," Clapp said.

---

E-mail: spang@desnews.com