Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Parks, Forest and Public Lands Subcommittee Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01) met privately with Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey and Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes to discuss the Wild Lands Secretarial Order. The meeting was intended to clarify the intentions of Secretary Salazar’s recent memo that stated the Department would not implement the Wild Lands Order pursuant to passage of the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution (CR).

“Today BLM Director Bob Abbey and DOI Deputy Secretary David Hayes gave assurance that the Obama Administration does not plan to revive the Wild Lands Secretarial Order. However, I’m continuing to take a ‘trust but verify’ approach. I hope the Interior Department upholds their promise to listen to the concerns of local communities and their elected representatives. Based on past actions of the Administration, the Committee will continue to conduct aggressive oversight of this issue to ensure that no other backdoor unilateral actions are taken that could lock-up public land, block economic activity and cost jobs,” said Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04).

“Secretary Hayes and Director Abbey reiterated that Secretarial Order #3310 is dead. They both assured me that no administrative action will be taken to designate Wild Lands now or any time after FY2011. The only way to move forward on public land issues is to avoid unpredictable, unilateral actions without congressional input. Both Director Abbey and Deputy Secretary Hayes stated their intention to reduce the uncertainty that has plagued the debate in recent years and pledged to seek more consensus on these issues by improving coordination and dialogue with Congress and stakeholders,” said National Parks, Forest and Public Lands Subcommittee Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01).

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