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 Clinton administration fought most attempts to turn wilderness into roadways. Now, the Bush administration says it will finalize a rule giving Western states, counties and cities -- some avowedly hostile to federal control of wilderness areas -- a better chance to enforce those claims. The Clinton administration made it difficult to get the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management to approve the road claims. A burst of litigation resulted, much of it in Alaska and Utah. In Utah, some 15,000 road claims are at issue; Alaska's state government has
 identified about 650. In Utah, county governments angry about the establishment of a national monument have become embroiled in a fight over the issue. The state sued the federal government. And in Alaska, the state government contends that even some section lines -- the imaginary grid that marks off every square mile in the
 nation -- are subject to the provision and can be claimed as roads. Until now, proving that would likely have involved an arduous legal battle.
 Under the Bush policy, though, the BLM can process the claims more readily as an administrative action.
 It makes sense, says the Bush administration, because it saves state and federal taxpayers money on court costs.
 "The department felt this allowed them to address the . . . issues in a more straightforward way," said David Quick, a BLM spokesman.
 Stephen Griles, a former mining lobbyist who serves as the No. 2 official in the Interior Department, told a pro-development group in Alaska that the rule change was spurred in part by the advocacy of the Western Governors Association.
 "The department is poised to bring finality to this issue that has created unnecessary conflict between federal land managers and state and local governments," Griles told the Resource Development Council in November.
 Griles told the group the rules would be "consistent with historic regulation prior to 1976."
 What's changed since then is that sales of off-road vehicles, particularly three- and four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles, have skyrocketed. Enthusiasts

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