Another western newspaper calls for an end to “No More Wilderness”

“Ideally, Secretary Salazar would rescind the Utah agreement, which has all the high-handedness of the Ulysses Grant-administration giveaways of the American West. But if he can’t see his way to doing that, he must clarify Interior Department policy to say, loud and clear, that whatever deal was cut with Utah is not — repeat not — department policy.

For, as policy, it would strip Interior’s Bureau of Land Management of its authority to protect wilderness-study areas until Congress can act on wilderness designation. Since that latter action isn’t likely during the upcoming Congress, wilderness-study-area protection may be all that stands in the way of the seismo-trucks and test-drill rigs. ”  Editorial – Santa Fe New Mexican

Terry Tempest Williams Remembers Stewart Udall

“Consider his legacy: Udall was a driving force in both the writing and passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act, which included 9.2 million acres of public lands. Today, more than 100 million acres of wilderness have been protected. Under his leadership, sixty additions were made to the National Park Service, including the creation of Canyonlands, North Cascades, and Redwood National Parks, eight national seashores, nine recreation areas, twenty national historic sites, and fifty-six wildlife refuges preserving critical wetland habitats for migratory waterfowl.”  Read more – The Progressive