Historic Public Lands Protections Become Law

WASHINGTON (March 30, 2009) - President Obama today signed into law the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, one of the most sweeping pieces of conservation and public land management legislation in decades.

This legislation includes more than 160 separate public lands proposals that will secure wilderness designation for more than two million acres in nine states, protect over a thousand miles of rushing rivers and streams and give legal status to the 26-million acre National Landscape Conservation System, which protects some of the most spectacular landscapes.

Background:

The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on March 30th 2009, provides the largest expansion of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 15 years, designating 2.1 million acres of permanent wilderness in nine states -- California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Michigan, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Another one of the bills in the package -- the National Landscape Conservation System Act -- ensures permanent protection for the first new system of conservation lands in the United States in more than 50 years. Under the National Landscape Conservation System Act, over 850 federally recognized areas covering 27 million acres of the Bureau of Land Management's most spectacular land and waters will be protected permanently.

Other bill provisions include:

• Protection of nearly 250,000 acres of Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park.
• The Wyoming Range Legacy Act, which maintains the integrity of around 1.2 million acres of incredible big game and cold water fisheries habitat.
• Protection of more than 15,000 acres in San Miguel County in NM as wilderness.
• Protection of 43,000 acres of the Jefferson National Forest as wilderness, and 12,000 as a national scenic area in VA.
• Protection of more than 128,000 acres of national forest on Mount Hood in OR.
• Preservation of nearly 450,00 acres of wilderness and 73 miles of wild and scenic rivers near Santa Clarita and along the California Nevada border, including the White Mountains in CA.

More Information:

• Summary of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act
• Read the full text of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act