Secretary of Interior Salazar: ‘Many rural Western economies now rely as much or more on public lands for tourism and recreation, open space, and an increased quality of life, as they do for logging, mining and grazing’

From the Colorado Independent (Scott Kersgaard):

Salazar’s comments were made at the signing of a Secretarial Order to elevate the Office of the National Landscape Conservation System and Community Partnerships to the level of a Directorate. The Directorate will have jurisdiction over 27 million acres of public land in the West.