From The Pueblo Chieftain (Patrick Malone):
[Salazar] contends that Secretarial Order 3310, announced during a press conference at Confluence Park, does both [create jobs and protect the beauty of the land in perptuity]. Salazar pointed to the 6.5 million outdoor recreation jobs held by Americans as an example of an industry that would benefit from his latest action. “Wise stewardship isn’t just the right thing to do,” Salazar said. “It’s good for business and it’s good for jobs.”
The order establishes a third class of protected lands — wildlands — and calls for an inventory of U.S. Bureau of Land Management sites with wilderness characteristics. Already, wilderness areas as designated by Congress and wilderness study areas under consideration for that designation are protected from development uses. Wildlands will enjoy the same protection, but Salazar’s land-use decisions about wildlands will be flexible and take into consideration economic interests and other factors impacting the communities where they reside. “It does not lock up the Western lands across America from other uses, as I am sure some people who will be critics of this order will claim,” Salazar said. The designation is subject to change through the existing public planning land use process, and does not affect lands that are not under BLM jurisdiction.