LICATA: If you were elected president, what would be your No. 1  conservation goal?
SENATOR MCCAIN: I would have to say that a real conservation goal has to [be to] protect the pristine beauty of our nation, and that means  management of federal lands, much of it for multiple use. It means  protecting our forests, and that means through things like healthy  forest initiatives. Obviously the maintenance and upgrades that are  necessary in our national parks. And [to] have an environmental conservation policy that's worthy of the legacy of one Theodore  Roosevelt.

LICATA: I know he's a hero of yours?
SENATOR MCCAIN: He's my hero and my role model. One brief vignette and I know we have to move quickly, but if you go to  the El Tovar Lodge on the rim of the Grand Canyon, the first person to sign in the guest book was TR. And it's a beautiful paragraph that he has. "Preserve this, don't mar it. Keep it for future generations. It's your obligation..." It's beautifully done.

LICATA: In your career, what is the conservation legislation that you're  most proud of?
SENATOR MCCAIN: I've been involved in a number of land exchanges in my state ranging from areas that needed to be in preservation to protecting Luke Air Force Base and having the areas around it be kept from development. From a place called Spur Cross Ranch which was the last ranch in Maricopa County that was about to be developed I worked with others to protect it. Trying to protect the Grand Canyon...many pieces of legislation such as the [National Parks] Overflights Act. To provide for the opportunity, also for multiple use, of federal lands, for responsible stewardship, but also permitting hunting and fishing where the conditions warrant that. Now there are some areas that obviously you want to put into wilderness status. But there are many other areas that you should have multiple use in so that everyone...everyone can whether you be young or old, or no matter what, that you can also have the privilege and the pleasure of  enjoying it, because it's owned by all of us.

LICATA: The current administration passed some executive orders that put  energy exploration as the top priority for management of public lands.  Would you be willing to supersede those and work with more of a multiuse  mandate?
SENATOR MCCAIN: Obviously we want to have as much exploitation as we can to provide for our nation's energy needs. We are too dependent on  foreign sources of energy, as we all know. At the same time, I would try to maintain--and it's a very, very thin  line--an area between preservation, multiple use, and exploitation. In other words, there are a number of moderate environmental groups in  America today--I'm not talking about the extremes that we've been able to  sit down with and work with. [For example], an environmental organization bought some ranches around  the Grand Canyon. Okay? They're still raising cattle on that land.  But--it's to some degree multiple use--but it is extending the buffer of  the Grand Canyon. We all agreed to that. Everybody--hunters, fishermen,  environmental organizations, everybody. Those are the kinds of things  that for example, the Grand Canyon Trust is an organization dedicated to  preserving the Grand Canyon, and yes they are certainly open to proposals  in areas where there can be multiple use of it.