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(Salt Lake City-AP) -- Governor Olene Walker will announce a new plan today to resolve the wilderness debate in Utah.
Walker will appoint a working group of county commissioners, conservationists, four-wheel-drive enthusiasts and ranchers to make choices about wilderness lands.
Walker says her plan could succeed where others failed because she plans to make choices and build support for wilderness from the ground up, with agreement of county officials and conservationists.
A wilderness compromise eluded former Governor Mike Leavitt during his 11 years in office. Some say Walker may have better luck.
The Bureau of Land Management has identified three-point-two (M)million acres of land as worthy of wilderness protection. But conservationists are pushing for nine (M)million acres.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
