Land Agency Leaders Go West

Federal land directors yesterday "left no doubt with a crowd of cowboys, county commissioners and urban environmentalists that the New West of wolves and wilderness protection is here to stay."

U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck, Bureau of Land Management Director Patrick Shea and National Park Service Director Robert Stanton gathered in Boise, Idaho, for a forum on the future of America's public lands. All three agency heads have continued the Clinton administration policy of steering land management policy away from mining and old industries and toward tourism and cultural enrichment (Timothy Egan, New York Times, 2/12).

Environmentalists at the forum applauded the directors' moves, which include an 18-month moratorium on road-building in national forests and possible recreation quotas for public parks.

But timber, mining and ranching officials said that "seemingly endless studies and anti-development policies" are causing gridlock over public lands policy (Stephen Stuebner, Salt Lake Tribune, 2/12). Idaho county commissioner Lin Hintze: "Who protects us from the protectors?" (Egan, New York Times).