Salazar lauds Utah's approach to public lands discussion

SALT LAKE CITY — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a packed meeting of the governor's Balanced Resource Council that wilderness protections and other land conservation measures are best accomplished from the ground up with local collaboration, not sweeping federal designations.

"To the people of Utah, I say: Be not afraid," he said after the Monday meeting when he spoke to reporters.

Salazar was specifically responding to rumors reported earlier this year that there was a movement afoot by his agency to designate new national monuments in the western United States, including two areas in Utah — the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa in southeastern Utah.

"That's not going to happen," he said. "That would be the wrong way to go."

Rather, Salazar said the best way to protect wilderness is by getting county and local officials on board to work cooperatively, specifically pointing to the Washington County lands bill passed in 2009 that he said had "tremendous bipartisan support."

Similar planning efforts under way in areas such as San Juan County — where Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, has been hosting public input meetings — represent a more reasoned approach, Salazar added.

"There are issues involving access and ways to find common-sense solutions," he said.

Salazar also pointed to Gov. Gary Herbert's Balanced Resource Council, which includes members with a variety of contrasting viewpoints, as a premier bridge-building tool on issues often fraught with contention.

"This is a historic day for me personally," Salazar said. "The people of Utah are ahead of the country in so many ways."

He said the council should be held up as an example of the type of approach that other states should follow when it comes to public land issues and the planning process.

"It is worthy of being emulated across the country," he said.

Salazar, a former state attorney general and Colorado senator, said he is slated to present a list of conservation recommendations to President Barack Obama in November, and Monday's meeting represents the first of many he plans to attend to gather input.

"I want to have the people of Utah help me frame" those recommendations, he said. "I hope this is only the beginning of the dialogue."