Stretching from New Mexico north into Canada, the pine-covered ridges, vast grasslands and sprawling canyons, badlands, forests and sagebrush steppes of the Rocky Mountains contain vital habitat for animals including wolves, grizzly bears, pronghorn, elk and buffalo.

The Bush administration worked hard to open as much of this public land as possible to the oil and gas industry, which now holds leases on more than 25 million acres in the Rocky Mountain states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. Energy development -- along with its heavily polluting rigs, truck traffic and pumping stations -- has already taken a toll on western wildlife: big-game herds are declining, and several species are on the verge of being endangered.

Incoming Interior Secretary Salazar must act fast: tell him to reverse the Bush-Cheney policy of putting polluters first, and ask him to protect the outstanding wildlands of the Rocky Mountain West from destructive oil and gas exploration.