Welcome. We have gathered to recognize a significant chapter in the history of Interior and of our federal lands. We are here especially to celebrate the Udall brothers - key players in dramatic changes that benefit environmental protection today and for future generations.

I am delighted that so many of the family members are here today. It is my great pleasure to welcome former Secretary Stewart Udall home to the Interior Department.

I am best acquainted with the Udall cousins - the younger generation of the Udall family. Tom Udall was elected Attorney General of New Mexico the same year I was elected Attorney General of Colorado.

Western attorney generals get well-acquainted. Tom and I did, especially when Tom became the chair of the Conference of Western Attorneys General.

The Conference is a collegial, bipartisan group, where members share concerns and even meals. I have fond memories of the night that Tom's wife Jill hosted dinner at their home. We had a great evening together on their balcony, talking about our love of the land.

Mark is from my home state, elected to Congress a few years after Tom. Mark and his wife Maggie share a family passion for our great outdoors, especially the cleanup of Rocky Flats.

I most recently became acquainted with another cousin, Oregon Senator Gordon Smith. When it comes to politics, I think that Senator Smith is the smartest one in the Udall family.

But geography counts for a lot too. So, though some of us here today are sometimes on opposite sides of the political divide, we all share a love of the wide-open spaces of the West.

The Udall brothers understood what public service is supposed to be about. It is about acting with civility and integrity. Public service includes remembering that most people who devote their lives to public service care deeply about the future of the country.

It is about celebrating the opportunity to do a bit of good within the Beltway. Public service is also about enjoying the ride, and having the grace to laugh at one's own missteps along the way.

So despite some disagreements over policy, I appreciate what the Udall brothers have done. They served with honor and integrity. Just as importantly, they served with a smile.

Mo Udall had one of Washington's rare qualities - the courage of self-deprecation. You can tell a lot about people from the way they behave when they lose elections. Some become bitter and sulk for years. Some lose their internal compass.

It takes someone truly extraordinary to do what Mo Udall did - write a book called "Too funny to be President." He even reiterated the comment of columnist David Broder about his failed presidential campaign, "Mo Udall wanted to run for president in the worst way . . . and did."

The exhibit opening here today honors the service of the Udall family in a far more profound way than a few words of mine ever could. The same is true of the Udall Foundation, which was established to honor the memory of Morris Udall by educating a new generation of Americans to cherish those values of public service.

Mo Udall, like the Foundation named in his honor, made three words the touchstone of his efforts: Civility, integrity and consensus.

Mo preferred soft words of persuasion over hard words of argument. His civility allowed him to make - and keep - friends in both parties. For instance, one of Mo's closest long-time friends was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater.
Humor and humility were also Udall hallmarks. As shown in this exhibition, Mo often prayed the humble prayer, "Lord, give us the wisdom to utter words that are gentle and tender, for tomorrow we may have to eat them."

Yet even when there were honest disagreements about policy, the Udall brothers served with integrity. They held true to their values. They could be counted on to follow their consciences - to respectfully speak the truth as they saw it. That basic civility sustained them even during difficult dialogues.

Guided by integrity and sustained by civility, the Udall brothers became distinguished public servants and accomplished conservationists. They built consensuses around several important pieces of legislation.

One of Mo's most important accomplishments was the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which doubled the size of the national park system and tripled the size of the national wilderness system.

Even in describing that achievement, Mo could not resist the chance to have a bit of fun at the expense of himself and his brother.

In "Too Funny to be President," Mo recalled an Alaska newspaper's scathing comments, "Stewart . . . has sold out to Canada."

Stewart was devoted to integrity, civility, and consensus-building throughout his public career - as an Arizona Congressman and as Secretary of the Interior.

In the 1999 issue of the Interior Department's in-house magazine, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Department, Stewart Udall wrote, "Large-scale conservation work can no longer be accomplished by the flourish of a President's pen or through funds appropriated to fight a business depression."

Instead, former Secretary Udall wrote, "If we are to preserve both the beauty and the bounty of the American earth, it will take thoughtful planning and a day-in and day-out effort by business, by government, and by voluntary organizations. If the area of individual involvement is enlarged . . . the conservation movement can become a sustained, systematic effort both to produce and preserve."

I hope Stewart Udall will be complimented by how much I view that statement as expressing my own dream of citizen stewardship and cooperative conservation. Cooperative conservation has been the touchstone of this administration's tenure.

My 4 C's: cooperation, communication, and consultation, all in the service of conservation, follow in the tradition of the Udall brother's tenants of civility, integrity and consensus.

I have met with ranchers and farmers who have changed how they do business in order to protect wildlife and save water. I have visited landowners who are preserving habitat for endangered species, and I have seen college students, grandmothers and business executives working together to address environmental issues.

Environmental stewardship knows no title or job description - it is simply each person lending a caring hand to our lands and waters.

Morris and Stewart Udall understood that. They became true environmental stewards through civility, integrity, and consensus.

Their legacy shows through this exhibit. Their legacy lives through the Udall Foundation. Through the Foundation, new generations of environmental leaders and advocates are learning the values the Udall brothers held dear, the values that people across the political spectrum can continue to uphold.