Nearly 50 years ago, my wife and I sat on the east steps of the U.S. Capitol to hear John F. Kennedy take the reins of the nation's leadership. For me, it was the beginning of nearly six years' service under Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson as assistant secretary and under secretary of the U.S. Interior Department.

Consequently, when I heard that Colorado native Sen. Ken Salazar would be our next Interior secretary, it brought back memories, and, in the spirit of sharing, I offer some thoughts for Secretary Salazar:

Mr. Secretary, I am sure you will come to love the Department of the Interior, as I did. You will soon find out why it has been dubbed the "Department of Everything Else," as you marvel at the diversity of the programs. You will sense the ghost of former Secretary Harold Ickes (1933-1945) as you walk the halls of the building he designed. Predecessors like Carl Schurz (1877-1881) and Stewart Udall (1961-1969), my former boss, will surely inspire you.

On the other hand, there are certainly pitfalls. History has not been kind to Albert B. Fall, who, as Interior secretary, made "Teapot Dome" mean scandal, not a Wyoming oil field.

According to my count, Mr. Secretary, you are the fifth Coloradan to have the post, dating back to Henry M. Teller in 1882. Most recently, University of Denver graduate Gale Norton was secretary from 2001-2006.

Now let me turn to several observations about what might lie ahead. Admittedly, they come from experiences almost a half-century old, so I offer them with respect and my personal hope for your great success.

You will quickly find that many of your people have their own lines of communication to the committees and leadership of the Congress. Policy must be centralized.

Second, there is an understandable desire by the operating officials to bypass the internal chain of command in order to get your attention. Both you and they should avoid this.

Third, the U.S. Constitution gives special authority over the public lands and territories to the Congress. Your lawyers will grapple with the boundary between the role of the executive and legislative branches. The policy burden will fall on you, as you represent the executive while maintaining good relations with the Congress for the advancement of myriad programs.

And speaking of lawyers, much of the day-to-day work of the department will involve interpreting the meaning of legislation and the intent of Congress. There will be tension between your assistant secretaries and the department's solicitor about whether a particular choice is one of policy or of law. Remember that passing questions on to lawyers might amount to abdication of policy control.

Finally, within your department, Mr. Secretary, you will be asked to reconcile controversies not always rationally reconcilable and to deal with administrative messes long past untangling. You will not be able to satisfy everyone, nor solve every long-standing issue, including many involving complicated water compacts and Native American affairs. Do your best; there is no right solution to some of these problems.

Mr. Secretary, all the above will be outweighed by the satisfaction you will enjoy from most of what goes on in Interior - wonderful science by the Geological Survey, important human relationships involving native Americans and the Polynesians and Micronesians of the Pacific Islands and the Creole cultures of the Caribbean, managing our public lands and precious national forests. As we well know, there are many problems in the national parks, but that there are such places is a joy.

In a word, Mr. Secretary, what Interior does matters. Good luck and Godspeed.

John A. Carver Jr. is professor emeritus at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and an adviser to DU's graduate program in Environmental Law and Policy.