Otter opposes Obama policy on wilderness lands

TWIN FALLS (AP) - Idaho Gov. Butch Otter is decrying an Obama administration plan to reverse a Bush-era policy and make millions of undeveloped acres in the nation once again eligible for federal wilderness protection.

In a letter this week to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Otter wrote that the new policy concerning land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will result in the federal agency treating "much of the Idaho acreage under its control as de facto wilderness."

Salazar announced the policy late last month.

"Without any state or public input, the Interior Department has circumvented the sovereignty of states and the will of the public by shifting from the normal planning processes of the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) to one that places significant and sweeping authority in the hands of unelected federal bureaucrats," Otter wrote.

But Salazar spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the policy is a "straightforward, commonsense approach" that restores balance to the management of public lands.

"The policy affirms the BLM's responsibility to take into account all of the resources for which it is responsible - including wilderness characteristics - when it conducts its transparent, public land use planning process," Barkoff said in a statement Friday. "It also gives local communities and the public a strong voice in how we manage backcountry areas for our children, grandchildren and future generations."

The new policy replaces a 2003 policy adopted under former Interior Secretary Gale Norton. That policy - derided by some as the "No More Wilderness" policy - stated that new areas could not be recommended for wilderness protection by the BLM, and it opened millions of acres to potential commercial development.

Idaho BLM spokeswoman Cheryle Zwang said managers have been given a 30-day internal comment period, with those comments to be used to produce a final guidance within 60 days.

"It's my understanding that we'd start looking at lands as part of the (Resource Management Plan) process, and for those areas where projects are proposed, we could amend current RMPs," Zwang told The Times-News. "There's not going to be a large instantaneous designation of wild lands."

Environmental activists have been pushing for the Obama administration to restore protections for potential wilderness areas.

Salazar at the time of the announcement said the agency will review some 220 million acres of BLM land that's not currently under wilderness protection to see which should be given a new "Wild Lands" designation - a new first step for land awaiting a wilderness decision. Congress would decide whether those lands should be permanently protected.