SALT LAKE CITY—Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is touring Utah and looking for ways to resolve some long-standing conflicts over public lands that make up more than half of the state.
Salazar had breakfast at Gov. Gary Herbert’s mansion Monday, then held a town hall-style meeting at the Utah Capitol before setting out on a tour of a wind farm near Milford.
Salazar assured Utah that President Barack Obama does not plan to designate any Utah lands as national monuments or wilderness without first consulting the state.
He also said he was looking for a way to end a raft of lawsuits filed by local governments seeking to control roads crossing federal lands.
Salazar also says he plans to examine a proposal to enlarge Hovenweep National Monument on the Utah-Colorado border.
