Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne’s trip to the region last week drew criticism of his support for oil and gas drilling and a lukewarm “wait and see” attitude on a national parks preservation plan.

Kempthorne, a former governor of Idaho, just succeeded Gale Norton, who stepped down at the end of March. His tour gave many their first look at the man who oversees a fifth of the land in the U.S. and who will write and implement policy for millions of acres around Jackson Hole.

His tour took him through the gas fields of Sublette County and to Yellowstone, the world’s first national park. He expressed strong support for local energy development and then announced a plan to revitalize national parks during the next 10 years to prepare them for their centennial.

President Bush “directed me to establish specific performance goals that, when achieved, will make sure our parks continue to be places where children and families can learn about our nation’s great history, enjoy quality time together and have fun outdoors,” he said at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.

Days earlier, he called for continued oil and gas development on public lands, proclaiming, “We need to lessen our reliance on foreign energy for our national economy and our national security.” To familiarize himself with domestic energy production, Kempthorne toured the sprawling Jonah and Pinedale Anticline gas fields Aug. 23, praising technological advances and saying he was “impressed” with efforts by the operators to be “compatible with the environment.”

“There is a lengthy process that has to be gone through,” he said, referring to the system of environmental assessments and drilling permits. “Some people on the industry side say it should be shorter.”

Kempthorne noted that the 2005 energy bill mandated that the government ramp up domestic energy production.

“We need it as a country,” he said. “But we need to adhere to environmental standards and procedures.”

But the BLM’s agenda to approve energy company requests for leases and development plans has created so much outrage in Sublette County that U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) stood in contrast to Kempthorne on the tour. While Kempthorne dismissed worries about the pace and scope of the development, Thomas wanted limits.

“I am concerned that we don’t expand this type of operation further than the current limits, but that doesn’t control the air quality, either,” Thomas said. “They are doing a good job, but I wouldn’t want to see it expanded to other parts of the county.”

In fact, the BLM is working on plans to allow thousands of new wells in the area south of Jackson and has just leased U.S. Forest Service land in the Wyoming Range that would allow development of oil and gas fields into the high country just south of Bondurant. BLM officials estimate there are about 60 drilling rigs working in Sublette County this summer.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, also opposes energy leasing in the Wyoming Range.

Thomas said he thinks there is a point at which the federal government should not approve new energy projects south of Jackson if pollution affects Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. He cautioned that he did not know exactly where to draw the line.

“I am somewhat concerned from a Grand Teton National Park standpoint,” Thomas said. “I don’t want to see the parks overcome.”

Kempthorne did not address the issue of how one of his agencies, the BLM, is affecting the mission of another, the National Park Service.

Linda Baker, grassroots coordinator for the Pinedale-based Upper Green River Valley Coalition, said she would like to have shown Kempthorne a different picture of the gas fields. She was shut out of the tour and the subsequent news conference by BLM staff who said it was an invitation-only press event.

“I felt there was a certain segment of the public I was able to represent and they did not have any access to the discussion or any way to comment on reclamation practices in the gas fields,” Baker said. In a tour of the Jonah Field this week, Baker noted noxious weeds on many locations, including halogeton, which is poisonous to sheep and cattle.

“I would like to have pointed that out,” she said. “Why is the southern end of the valley completely filled with smoke and when you drive north the smoke magically disappears? These are things I would have like to have pointed out.”

Baker said she thought Kempthorne needed to take another trip through the gas fields to get a more accurate picture of energy in the West.

“Painting an overly rosy picture is a dangerous way to consider the future of our public lands,” Baker said. “I would hope the secretary would take another look – that he would come back and allow the public to tell him the other side of the story.”

In Yellowstone Friday, Kempthorne continued to tout energy development as a crucial part of the Interior Department’s mission. “We do need to have a good, steady supply of energy,” he said. “There’s a holistic approach to this.”

He toured Yellowstone and opened the new Canyon Visitor Education Center. And he likened President Bush’s parks initiative to Mission 66, a push during the Eisenhower administration to revitalize parks for their 50th anniversary.

“I want to point out that many of the buildings we see here, to my right and behind you, were built during Mission 66,” Kempthorne said. “The president of the United States has issued a challenge to prepare national parks for another century of conservation, preservation and enjoyment.”

Part of the initiative calls for the creation of public-private partnerships and the use of additional volunteers. Critics said they are wary that the federal budget will never again cover the needs of national parks, which face a backlog of more than $600 million in maintenance.

Scott Silver, executive director of the conservation group Wild Wilderness, said he’s concerned that “enjoyment” could mean more motorized vehicles in national parks.

“One of the things I remind people is that Kempthorne has a very long track record of being extraordinarily conducive ... to motorized recreation,” Silver said. Kempthorne has received praise from, or expressed support for, motorized recreation groups such as the Blue Ribbon Coalition and the American Recreation Coalition, he said.

When quizzed, Kempthorne said only activities that don’t harm park resources would be allowed.

Thomas went a step further, saying, “We’re not going to turn them into playgrounds.”

Silver is also wary of Kempthorne’s call to double or triple volunteers in national parks and of the call to increase donations, saying that special interest groups could use their volunteers or funding to influence park policies.

Bill Wade, spokesman for the Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees, said calling for private partnerships and more volunteers is fine as long as those things don’t “end up being pursued instead of sufficient operational funding and staffing for parks.”

“We’re going to have to wait and watch how things unfold,” Wade said.

Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said the park initiative will have to cross over at least two more presidential administrations.

“We’ve heard a commitment, but it is a long-term commitment?” Nash said. “We have a recognition that some efforts need to be made to ensure that we are in an appropriate state when we hold that [100th anniversary] celebration. I think it bodes well we have a time frame that is a hallmark target in the centennial of the Park Service.”