Barack Obama’s nominee for Interior Secretary, Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, says he has some unfinished business to take care of before he leaves the Senate and takes the helm at the Interior Department. Salazar will be in the unique position of working on legislation that would give new protections to public lands and then ushering those new protections along with him to Interior.

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Sporting his trademark cowboy hat, the denim-clad Salazar held a press conference in Denver before leaving for Washington on Sunday, saying he’d like to pass eight bills dealing mainly with wilderness and conservation issues, as soon as possible.

One of the bills would define bans on mining, timber harvesting and new roads and constructions in Rocky Mountain National Park. Others would establish the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, South Park National Heritage Area, and the Baca National Wildlife Refuge Management.

“I have high expectations from the strong Republican and Democratic support that, perhaps even in this week,” the bills will pass, he said.

The bills passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and were included in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008. Salazar also indicated that Senate President Harry Reid would continue with the bills should they not get finished before Salazar moves on.

Because Obama’s selection of Salazar to head-up Interior brought mixed reactions from the environmental community, the announcements might go a little way towards easing the concerns of those who feel Salazar is too cozy with the oil, gas, and other extractive industries.

The bills supported by Sen. Ken Salazar in his waning days include (from the Denver Post):

• The Arkansas Valley Conduit Authorization Act establishes a 35 percent federal cost share for the construction of the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a proposed 130-mile water delivery system from Pueblo Dam.

• The Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area Act designates 210,000 acres of federally owned land on the Uncompahgre Plateau as the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area.

• The Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Area Act designates 249,339 acres in the park as wilderness.

• The Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area Act includes Conejos, Costilla and Alamosa counties.

• The South Park National Heritage Area Act includes 19 ranches and 17,000 acres of wetlands and agricultural lands in the headwaters of the South Platte River.

• The Jackson Gulch Rehabilitation Act authorizes federal funding to rehabilitate the Jackson Gulch irrigation canal near Mancos.

• The Northern Front Range Backdrop Study Act identifies ways to protect natural resources and open spaces near the Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest.

• The Baca National Wildlife Refuge Management Act defines the purpose of the refuge as one “to restore, enhance, and maintain wetland, upland, riparian, and other habitats for native wildlife, plant, and fish species in the San Luis Valley.”

• The Upper Colorado River Basin Fund Act provides funding to continue endangered fish recovery implementation programs.

Image: Tim Hurst