In a filing before a federal district court judge in Utah,
national and state conservation groups from eight western states
charged that Norton's Department of the Interior had violated
the law, the US Constitution, and federal court decisions when
it secretly agreed to forever surrender the BLM's authority to
review and protect its wilderness quality lands. The agreement
came in the settlement of a lawsuit brought by the state of Utah
against the federal government. Federally designated wilderness
areas are off limits to road building, logging, mining, and off-
road vehicle use. Congress designates such wilderness areas,
usually after they are brought to its attention by the BLM or
Forest Service. The Interior Department wiped out the process
whereby the BLM identifies which lands deserve wilderness
protections. The settlement also removed an interim form of
protection in many so-called Wilderness Study Areas. These are
areas identified by the BLM as deserving wilderness protection
and where development and r