In the face of intense political pressure, the Interior Department today announced it will not implement a controversial policy to protect wilderness-quality lands in the West, a decision that drew cheers from Western critics but was attacked by environmental groups as a retreat from common-sense conservation.

The announcement by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also resolves a likely battle over the Bureau of Land Management's 2012 budget and could render moot parts of a pair of lawsuits filed in Utah seeking to block the agency's wilderness policy.

Salazar wrote in a memo to Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey that Interior would comply with a congressional funding rider in April by not designating any areas as "wild lands," which were to be managed to preserve wilderness characteristics.

But he said BLM would maintain an inventory of wilderness-quality lands under its jurisdiction and, consistent with federal law, would consider wilderness characteristics when conducting land-use planning and making project-level decisions.

"The protection of America's wilderness for hunting, fishing, and backcountry recreation should be a unifying issue that mobilizes us to a common purpose," Salazar said in a statement. "We will focus our efforts on building consensus around locally-supported initiatives and working with members to advance their priorities for wilderness designations in their states and districts."

Salazar said Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes would be working with all stakeholders to develop a set of recommendations to Congress on how to manage lands with wilderness characteristics. BLM hopes to have a report ready by December, a spokeswoman said.

"Based on my conversations with members of Congress, there is broad interest in managing our public lands in a sensible manner that takes into account such lands' wilderness qualities," Salazar wrote in the memo. "Interior will be soliciting input from members of Congress, state and local officials, tribes, and federal land managers to identify BLM lands that may be appropriate candidates for congressional protection under the Wilderness Act."

Interior did not elaborate on whether the use of "wild lands" designations would be abandoned completely, and members of Congress and environmentalists expressed differing interpretations of what today's announcement meant.

"They have confirmed that they will not be designating wild lands right now," said Nada Culver, senior counsel for the Wilderness Society and director of the group's BLM Action Center in Denver. "They have reaffirmed that they will be identifying lands with wilderness characteristics and that they can consider them in making decisions. But other than committing to talk with Congress and seek input, there is not direction or confirmation on actually protecting lands with wilderness characteristics."

Republican members of Congress who opposed the order praised the agency for abandoning wild lands and argued the move would bring relief to Western communities that depend on multiple uses of public lands to provide jobs and economic revenue.

"I am gratified that they appear to finally understand that arbitrarily restricting citizens' use of our public lands and obstructing the development of domestic energy and other resources on those lands is the wrong thing to do, especially during an economic recession and without any input from Congress or local officials," Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) said in a statement.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), who leads the House subcommittee that oversees Interior, praised Salazar for contacting his office before announcing its next steps. In response, the Natural Resources Committee postponed an oversight hearing last week to discuss the wild lands order, committee staff said.

A spokeswoman for Bishop said Salazar told the chairman he had no plans to designate wild lands after the end of the fiscal year.

"While I am pleased to hear that the DOI intends to uphold the requirements of the Wilderness Act and work with Congress to designate new wilderness areas, I am interested in learning more about their plans to manage lands with so-called 'wilderness characteristics,'" Bishop said. "I look forward to working with Secretary Salazar, Deputy Secretary Hayes and Director Abbey to ensure that our public lands are managed in such a way that the livelihoods of public lands users and the environment are protected and preserved for generations to come."

'It sounds awfully similar'

While the term "wild lands" will not be used, BLM, as the steward of roughly 250 million acres of public lands, still reserves the right to protect some areas in their natural state. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act requires an up-to-date inventory of resources and prohibits the agency from allowing undue degradation to the land.

Western lawmakers said they would be watching closely for how BLM manages its inventoried lands.

"It sounds very similar to the wild lands notion," said Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.). "I will have to understand what sort of nuance is presented by this new thought in order to be able to comment on it intelligently, but I have to tell you it sounds awfully similar."

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, said he supports any policy shift that respects Congress' authority to designate wilderness protection.

"I'm not familiar with all of the details, but if the focus is on the principle that only Congress can create wilderness areas, then I think that's a good step," Hastings said. "But we're looking at it just to see all the ramifications."

Conservation groups lambasted today's announcement as a concession to wilderness opponents that could imperil some of the last remaining pristine lands in the West and postpone a needed inventory of lands in Alaska.

"We are deeply disappointed in Secretary Salazar's decision today to undermine his wild lands policy," said William Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society. "Today's memorandum ignores the BLM's obligation to protect wilderness values and effectively lets stand former [Interior] Secretary Gale Norton's deeply flawed decision to prohibit the BLM from properly managing those public lands that harbor wilderness values."

Meadows was referring to a settlement with then-Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R) that ended BLM's use of wilderness study areas and effectively tossed the agency's wilderness guidance.

"It's important to keep in mind that these lands belong to all Americans," Meadows said, adding that millions of acres of lands are now at risk of development. "This apparent capitulation to opponents of wilderness protection is deeply disturbing."

Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said the new policy would have significant impacts for Alaska’s remote backcountry, much of which has never been inventoried.

She said Salazar's memo threatens areas including the National Petroleum Reserve, a 23-million-acre area in northwest Alaska that harbors vital open spaces and wildlife but could see oil and gas development. The Obama administration last month promised to hold annual oil and gas lease sales in the reserve to help boost domestic energy production.

"It is irresponsible to leave decisions of our most valuable unprotected areas to the changing whims of politicians," she said in a statement. "We encourage the Department of Interior to stand by its original policy and ensure that lands are not only inventoried, but that they are given proper protections, as well.”

But the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas trade group representing drillers in the Rocky Mountain states, said Salazar's announcement allows local residents and stakeholders to play a greater role in land management planning.

"We hope that today’s acknowledgement of the proper use of land planning to protect wilderness quality lands will enable the government to proceed with the balanced management of public lands in Utah,” said Kathleen Sgamma, the group's director of government and public affairs.