Salazar in Albuquerque to give progress report on wilderness plan

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be spending much of the day in New Mexico to rally support for public lands protection. Salazar plans to join other Interior officials on a conference call while he's in the state Thursday to discuss areas that have been recommended by county and state officials throughout the West for potential wilderness designation. Department officials have already toured several potential sites in New Mexico, California, Nevada and Utah. Salazar will also visit a 570-acre site on the edge of Albuquerque that has been proposed as an urban National Wildlife Refuge. Officials say it would be the Southwest's first urban wildlife refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bernalillo County and the Trust for Public Land have been working on establishing the refuge for several months. AP