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Wyoming is trying to force the Interior Department to trade land, minerals or mineral royalties for 1,366 acres that the state owns within the majestic park. If the feds don't agree to a deal -- soon -- Freudenthal threatens to put a for-sale sign on the property.

…Even in pro-development Wyoming, however, selling off land in a national park isn't a popular idea. Some are protesting already.

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Voicing concerns that Americans are losing their connection with nature -- and that natural areas are falling victim to sprawl and pollution -- the Obama administration is inviting hundreds of sportsmen, environmentalists and other champions of the outdoors to Washington next month for a summit on conservation.

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But in a way he couldn't have planned, Burns has ended up making his most topical and political film yet. With America frothing over the role of government — should it save banks? should it expand health coverage? — The National Parks makes a simple case for an idea that is wildly controversial in the year of the tea party: That we need government to do things the private sector can't or won't.

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Americans turn to the things that matter in times of crisis, so it’s only fitting that during a deep recession, lawmakers ended 35 years of effort with a wilderness designation on 250,000 acres of Rocky Mountain National Park.

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The task force will identify specific zones on public lands where the department can act rapidly to create large-scale production of solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy.

"We will assign a high priority to identifying renewable energy zones and completing the permitting and appropriate environmental review of transmission rights-of-way applications that are necessary to deliver renewable energy generation to consumers," Salazar said. "We have to connect the sun of the deserts and the wind of the plains with the places where people live."