Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is calling on Congress to pass wilderness legislation in nine states 鈥� including Colorado. There are 18 鈥渂ackcountry areas鈥� in the Interior Department鈥檚 which was sent to House Speaker John Boehner Thursday. All are on Bureau of Land Management land.
The four proposed in Colorado have long been wilderness study areas; Browns Canyon and McKenna Peak in the southwest and Bull Gulch and Castle Peak in Eagle County.
Secretary Salazar says these and the other proposals have broad support among local county commissioners and they deserve swift action by Congress.
"In the West, we have a proud, bi-partisan tradition of passing legislation to protect lands like this," the former Colorado senator said.
Interior officials began working on the report in June, around the same time the GOP-controlled House stripped funding for the Secretary鈥檚 sweeping and controversial order.
Critics of that plan, which could have led to de-facto wilderness designations on millions of acres of BLM land, worried it would have limited oil and gas drilling.
