Office of the Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                    CONTACT: Mark Pfeifle/Joan Moody, DOI

February 7, 2002                                                            202- 208-6416

Salt Lake City Olympics Set in Midst of Public Lands and Parklands:

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR NORTON SAYS AMERICA’S PUBLIC LANDS, OLYMPICS CRITICAL TO REVITALIZING TOURISM IN  WAKE OF SEPT. 11

(SALT LAKE CITY) -- Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, top U.S. official in charge of national parks and other public lands, welcomed journalists from around the world to the Salt Lake City Olympics today, noting that the games are located in the midst of world-class scenery belonging to all Americans. She highlighted a coalition effort among the Olympic committee and state and federal land agencies, calling it  “a unique partnership that is critical to ... restoring tourism following Sept. 11.”

“Tomorrow, when several billion television viewers and readers across the globe focus on Utah, I hope the beautiful lands and cultures of the West surrounding Salt Lake City will help them learn something about the American spirit, as well as the Olympic spirit . . . .  Understanding our natural treasures and our special relationship with the land is essential to  understanding Americans and to revitalizing tourism in the United States,” Norton said.

“For that reason, the Interior Department is a proud participant in the America’s Public Lands coalition, a unique partnership that is critical to protecting natural resources and restoring  tourism following Sept. 11.” The coalition also includes the Agriculture Department’s Forest Service and Utah State Parks and Recreation.  Before her press briefing, Norton visited the coalition exhibit at the Host City Visitor’s Center.

Federal and state public lands in Utah, particularly those administered by the department’s National Park Service, collectively represent the state’s top tourism draw and major engine of its economy.  More than 17 million visitors annually spend upward of $4 billion in the state; the national parks in Utah receive 9 million of those visitors.

Public land agencies have a unique, high-visibility Olympics showcase at Soldier Hollow -- the cross-country skiing and biathlon venue -- called the Western Experience. More than 100,000 Olympic spectators will be welcomed to the games at the point of entrance with a display of America’s “living legends”–wild horses, such as those managed by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.  In addition to the horse corrals, the Western Experience features a mountain-

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man camp,  log cabins, covered wagons and Native Americans in traditional dress.  Soldier Hollow is located within Wasatch Mountain State Park, and the Interior Department worked closely with partners at state parks to create the Western Experience.

Through its agencies -- including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management,  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Reclamation -- the Interior Department administers national parks, public lands, and wildlife refuges that have set the standards worldwide for conservation, recreation and resource systems. Norton’s department manages one out of every four acres in the United States.

In Utah, more than three-fourths of the land base consists of public lands managed by federal or state agencies. The region boasts the famous vistas in Arches, Canyonlands, and Zion national parks; the “dinosaur-lovers” treasures of the BLM’s Bonneville Salt Flats; the Bureau of Reclamation’s Lake Powell and Flaming Gorge reservoirs; as well as other, less famous, treasures on public lands.

Interior Department employees served as Olympic torchbearers earlier this week and are staffing information booths and centers, providing security and showcasing public lands at several exhibits. The department has provided law enforcement officers, including park rangers chosen for their winter skills.

“From national park rangers on skis and snowshoes to BLM horse wranglers to U.S. Geological Survey cartographers providing maps for security, many of our department’s employees  perform Olympic-like feats here in Utah or back home every day at their regular posts,” Norton said.

After her press conference today, the Secretary visited the Navajo Nation exhibit at the Gateway Center. This exhibit was produced in a partnership that includes the Navajo Nation and Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Norton, the first woman to head the Department of the Interior, has been a leading proponent of partnerships and of what she calls “the 4C’s”– communication, consultation, and cooperation, all in the service of conservation.  A lifelong conservationist, public servant and advocate for bringing common-sense solutions to environmental policy, she is a Westerner who previously served as Attorney General of Colorado.

As the nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior is charged with the mission to protect and provide access to the nation’s natural and cultural heritage and to honor trust responsibilities to the tribes. It also serves as the nation’s chief biological and earth sciences agency.  In addition to BIA, NPS, BLM, FWS, BOR, and USGS, other Interior agencies include the Minerals Management Service, Office of Surface Mining, and Office of Insular Affairs.

-DOI-