SOMERSET — The federal government will negotiate with landowners for one week in an attempt to get property needed to build a Flight 93 memorial without using eminent domain, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Friday.

But if no agreement is reached by this Friday, the government will seize the land.

The announcement came after Salazar and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter met with the owners of 500 acres where the hijacked flight crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. The meeting came a month after the National Park Service announced talks to get the remaining land for the memorial were unsuccessful and that they would use eminent domain.

"After meeting with the landowners and the Park Service today, I have high hopes that the parties are close to agreement," Salazar said.

He said the government has a "moral obligation" to complete the $58 million, 2,200-acre memorial by the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Landowners will receive fair-market value for their property, Salazar said. Going forward, the head of the National Park Service's acquisitions program will be directly responsible for communicating with the families, he said.

The flight was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco. Investigators believe the hijackers' plan was to crash into the Capitol or another target in Washington, D.C. The 40 passengers and crew killed in the crash have been recognized as heroes for preventing the attack.

Negotiations will begin with vigor next week, Salazar said, noting the government is on a tight schedule and determined to break ground for the permanent memorial on Sept. 11.

"I know that if we can't get it resolved, eminent domain is still a backstop," he added.

However, Salazar said he understands the property owners' connection to the land runs deep. His own family has lived and farmed the same ranch in southern Colorado for 150 years, he said, so listening to the landowners' stories hit close to home.