By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press

9/29/2011

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—In his latest stop across the West, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar stopped in New Mexico on Thursday to discuss plans for what would be the Southwest’s first urban wildlife refuge and to rally support for protecting public lands.

Salazar was in the state to talk about areas that were recommended by county and state officials throughout the region for potential wilderness designation. He said the key to getting such an initiative approved by Congress this term was to recommend plans that have been developed locally and have the support of residents and local governments.

Interior officials acknowledged that there can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach to land conservation.

“What we’ve heard from communities across the West is that land conservation proposals need to be tailored in a manner that meets the uniqueness of the area,” Salazar said.

Since June, department officials have toured several potential sites in New Mexico, California, Nevada and Utah as part of the Obama administration’s wilderness initiative.

The need for the recommendations came in June, after Congress defunded Salazar’s so-called “Wild Lands” order, which could have expanded wilderness protections to millions of acres of public lands. That policy overturned a Bush-era approach that opened some western lands to commercial development.

Some residents are frustrated with the administration’s push. Utah has sued over the Wild Lands order, and Alaska and Wyoming have sought to join the legal battle.

In New Mexico, Republican Steve Pearce, chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, has voiced concerns about the impacts of limiting management in areas that have been designated as wilderness or as a wilderness study areas when they don’t meet the criteria for protection under the 1964 Wilderness Act.

But overall, the reception has been much warmer in New Mexico, where the state’s two U.S. senators are sponsoring legislation for protecting areas along the Rio Grande Gorge north of Taos and in the desert along southern New Mexico’s southern border.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Martin Heinrich, both New Mexico Democrats, flanked Salazar during his visit to a 570-acre parcel on the edge of Albuquerque that is being turned into the Southwest’s first urban national wildlife refuge.

Salazar used the Middle Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge as an example of the partnerships that will be required for the administration’s wilderness agenda. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bernalillo County, congressional leaders and the Trust for Public Land have been working on the project for years.

The county has agreed to spend $5 million toward the purchase of the land, which was once the site of a dairy operation. It’s one of the largest pieces of open space remaining in the metropolitan area.

It will be in the shadow of the Sandia Mountains, among the alfalfa fields and cottonwood trees, that city residents can “connect to what is essentially the lifeblood of New Mexico and that’s the Rio Grande and the great wildlife that exists along this river,” Salazar said.

Of the nation’s more than 550 national wildlife refuges, only a few are located near cities, he said.

A record of decision establishing the boundaries of the refuge was signed this week, but officials said more work needs to be done. Plans for the refuge include educational opportunities for students and demonstrations on sustainable agriculture.

“This will be a place for the young people of this area to learn about their natural environment, to get dirt under their fingernails and a love and appreciation for the great outdoors,” Salazar said.

As he did during his visit Wednesday to Utah, the secretary also plugged the economic impacts of conservation, saying 6.5 million American jobs rely on the outdoor recreation industry.

Despite some of the criticisms of the wilderness initiative, Salazar said he believes the effort has bipartisan support.

“I’m hopeful that even in these very difficult times where there’s such a big fight in Washington and such great paralysis, that conservation will be able to find a good place because it’s so important to our future—and so important to the economics of today,” he said.