By PAUL FOY
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar struck a conciliatory tone Tuesday in Utah, saying it was possible to resolve decades of conflict over development and preservation on the two-thirds of the state's land that is owned by the federal government. Much of it is spectacular canyonlands and raw wilderness.

Salazar held out a compromise reached in a Utah natural-gas drilling project as an example of how to achieve balanced use of wild public lands. The Bureau of Land Management -- part of the Department of the Interior and Utah's biggest landlord -- approved the 626-well project last week near the Green River's Desolation Canyon.

Denver-based driller Bill Barrett Corp. agreed to drill under wild areas instead of on top of them, using new technology that can snake wells laterally from a well pad for nearly a mile.

"It will allow oil and gas development to move forward with what is so special about Desolation Canyon," Salazar said Tuesday.

He spoke to about 300 people packed inside a hotel ballroom for a "listening session" that included Nancy Sutley, the chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. They and other federal officials sought ideas on conserving public lands and encouraging young people to get outdoors.

Salazar and Sutley were in Salt Lake City to promote President Barack Obama's America's Great Outdoors initiative. They spoke to thousands of business people employed in the outdoor recreation industry and toured the aisles of the Outdoor Retailer trade show, the world's biggest showcase for outdoor gear.

The biggest names in the business said Salazar, raised on a Colorado ranch, instinctively understood a sector that supports 6.5 million U.S. jobs and generates $730 billion in retail sales and services.

Part of that is preserving what's left of the western landscape and encouraging people to appreciate it, they said.

"Our big commitment is getting youth outdoors," said Steve Rendle, CEO of The North Face, a gorilla of the outdoor industry. "That's the lifeblood of our industry."

John Burroughs, chairman of Seattle-based Cascade Designs, said he buttonholed Salazar to ease up on restrictions and permits that can make camping and hiking on the West's more spectacular lands a bureaucratic task. It can take years to get a permit to float the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park.

"What can we do to get more people outdoors? Give up some restrictions. Ease up on permits. You shouldn't have to reserve a campsite ahead of time. Don't lock people out. Otherwise, they'll just sit and play video games," Burroughs said on the trade show floor after showing off his leading camping brands for Salazar.

Frank Hugelmeyer, president and CEO of the Outdoor Industry Association, said, "Salazar has a unique understanding of this industry."

The Interior secretary also heard from the other side: local officials promoting oil and gas development, farm bureaus fighting to preserve grazing rights, and groups pushing for less restrictive four-wheel-drive travel on federal lands. The listening session brought out a cacophony of views, proving how hard it can be to satisfy everybody.

BLM Director Bob Abbey said off-highway vehicle users control much of the debate. If drivers continue to veer off paths to tear up lands, "you'll see more areas closed off," he said bluntly.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.