BILLINGS, Mont. - Seven oil and gas leases that were contested by state wildlife officials and a conservation group because of potential threats to wildlife were among 53 parcels sold by the federal government Wednesday.

The 53 leases, scattered across Montana and the Dakotas and totaling almost 38,000 acres, were sold for $1.85 million by the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that oversees federally controlled mineral rights.

The sale came amid heightened pressure from Montana officials who want the BLM to slow the pace of oil and gas development on federal lands in their state. None of the leases sold in North Dakota and South Dakota was protested. Two leases did not receive any bids.

In recent letters sent to the BLM, Montana officials cited research emerging from oil and gas fields in Wyoming and Alberta, Canada, that suggests wildlife such as sage grouse and mule deer have declined where energy development has been most intense. Trout and other fish also are considered at risk from runoff caused by land disturbance.

Earlier this month, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks asked the BLM to defer the sale of five parcels in Beaverhead County over wildlife concerns.

A BLM official said Wednesday that the agency had moved ahead with the sale on those tracts after deciding to address the state's concerns separately. John Bown, a BLM environmental planner, said that even when leases are issued, the BLM "is not locked in" and can impose conditions on development by attaching them to drilling permits.

A Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman, Tom Palmer, declined to comment on the latest sale and said agency officials had been promised a "detailed response" from the BLM regarding the contested leases.

Two other parcels sold Wednesday, in Beaverhead and Carbon counties, had been challenged by the conservation group Trout Unlimited. Bown said those sales would not be finalized until the protests are resolved.

Michael Gibson with Trout Unlimited said the parcels are near trout streams that are sensitive to erosion or other disturbances. "We'd be looking at quite a bit of polluted runoff going into the stream" if the leases were developed, he said.

Still pending before the agency are similar protests filed in March on a dozen parcels in Beaverhead, Roosevelt, Richland, Sheridan and Hill counties.

"If we resolve it and uphold the protests, we won't issue the leases," said Bown. "If we dismiss a protest in whole or in part, we will issue the lease."