Dirk Kempthorne came to the Northwest to address a national convention of wildlife officials.

He told the audience that his priority in his new position is to help the conservation movement. But environmentalists are very skeptical of Kempthorne's so-called "Healthy Lands Inititative." Rob Manning has the story.

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Dirk Kempthorne got a friendly reception from the audience of mostly federal and state wildlife officials. Many work for him in the Interior Department, at the Bureau of Land Management.

That's the bureau that would be responsible for a proposal Kempthorne is calling "the Healthy Lands Initiative." He introduced his plan with a mantra he repeated several times.

Dirk Kempthorne: "This is a new era in conservation. President Bush made a major commitment in his budget to support the kind of landscape-level conservation that we're doing in New Mexico, and we're calling it the Healthy Lands Initiative."

Kempthorne cited multiple examples from New Mexico to Minnesota to Montana of how the kind of targeted local efforts he's talking about can work.

A key part of the initiative involves faciliating agreements among local interest groups. Like in the Montana valley that was dealing with threats such as water quality degradation.

Dirk Kempthorne: "...and the development of vacation homes that threatened the valley's traditional way of life. In many places this could have led to an absolute deluge of government regulation and litigation. Instead, more than 500 local landowners, and 27 state and federal agencies, and a number of non-profit organizations, created the Blackfoot Challenge."

The Healthy Lands Initiative spends $22 million on conservation efforts across the west.

A large triangle of grassland where Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada meet, will get about $2 million.

Mark Salvo runs an environmental group called the Sagebrush Sea Campaign. Salvo says it's not nearly enough money.

Mark Salvo: "It could be that no amount of money spent to protect sagebrush steppe will actually be effective, until the lead federal agency involved, the Bureau of Land Management, changes the way it manages sagebrush habitats. We need to reduce and restrict grazing, we need to limit energy development on sagebrush habitats."

But the federal initiative could mean more energy development, not less.

A Department of Interior press release on the subject is titled: "Healthy Lands Initiative Restores, Protects Wildlife Habitat, While Meeting Nation's Vital Energy Needs."

Salvo says the second half of that statement is where the emphasis has been -- and he says, where it will stay. But Kempthorne says oil drilling is getting cleaner and more efficient. He says he's seen improvements at a facility in Wyoming.

Dirk Kempthorne: "With these efforts, the footprint for development has been reduced dramatically, from what had been eight acres per wellhead, is now done to half-an-acre per wellhead. Every acre reduced, is another acre for habitat." Kempthorne says competing interests ought to be able to compromise -- and there are incentives for businesses to do so. But conservationist Mark Salvo says the incentives are weak, and agreements usually wind up favoring business.

Salvo says he's putting his faith in a threatened bird that narrowly escaped the Endangered Species List.

Mark Salvo: "The greater sage grouse is the most charismatic resident of the sagebrush sea. It's a bird that depends on all parts of the sagebrush steppe, and therefore makes it an excellent indicator species for the sagebrush steppe." Salvo says the bird could help the area in two ways.

The grouse's popularity among birders could get the attention of members of Congress. They often take notice when animals like the gray wolf, or bald eagle are under threat. Or, if the grouse's numbers decline, the bird could make the endangered species list,which would trigger legal protections.

Kempthorne spoke romantically of another animal -- the antelope. And even as he emphasized meeting the nation's energy needs, he spoke of a "sacred responsibility" to protect lands for future generations.