The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will designate as "Wild Lands" appropriate areas with wilderness characteristics under its jurisdiction. The lands will be managed to protect their wilderness values, states Secretarial Order 3310, issued on December 23 by Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior. The BLM, which manages more land than any other federal agency, has not had a comprehensive national-wilderness policy since 2003, when the wilderness management guidance in the agency's handbook was revoked as part of a controversial out-of-court settlement between the then-Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, the State of Utah, and others.
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