National Conservation Lands, formerly known as the National Landscape Conservation System, is a 35-million-acre (140,000 km2) collection of lands in 873 federally recognized areas considered to be the crown jewels of the American West. These lands represent 10% of the 258 million acres (1,040,000 km2) managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM is the largest federal public land manager and is responsible for over 40% of all the federal public land in the nation. The other major federal public land managers include the US Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Over the years, the Bureau of Land Management has had to adjust its approach to public land management to fit the changing needs of the nation. The BLM historically has managed lands under its jurisdiction for extractive uses, such as mining, logging, grazing, and oil and gas production. In 1983, Congress acknowledged the value of watersheds, wildlife habitat, recreation, scenery, scientific exploration and other non-extractive uses with the designation of the first BLM-managed wilderness area--the Bear Trap Canyon unit of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in Montana. In 1996, President Clinton underscored non-extractive priorities on BLM lands when he established the first national monument to be administered by the BLM--the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. With this and several similar designations, a new focus emerged that would become part of how the agency looks at the land it manages: the protection of special areas where conservation and restoration of the landscape and its biological or cultural resources is the overriding objective.
The Bureau of Land Management's National Landscape Conservation System, better known as the National Conservation Lands, was created in 2000 with the mission to "conserve, protect, and restore these nationally significant landscapes that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for the benefit of current and future generations."
There are ten different federal conservation designations for the units that make up the National Conservation Lands:
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- National Monument
- National Conservation Area
- Wilderness Area
- Wilderness Study Area
- National Wild and Scenic River
- National Scenic Trail
- National Historic Trail
- Cooperative Management and Protection Area
- Forest Reserve
- Outstanding Natural Area
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The Conservation System was created in 2000, but without Congressional authorization, there was no guarantee that the System would be permanent. The National Landscape Conservation System Act was signed into law in March 2009. The Act permanently unified the individual units as a public lands System, protecting the System in law so that it would no longer exist at the pleasure of each president. This marked the first new congressionally authorized public lands system in decades.
The Conservation System act was included in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which also added 1,200,000 acres (490,000 ha) of new designations to the System, including a National Monument, three National Conservation Areas, Wilderness, Wild and Scenic Rivers and National Scenic Trails.
Video National Conservation Lands
List of National Conservation Lands areas
National monuments
These 25 sites, total 6,804,765 acres (2,753,791 ha)
National conservation areas (NCAs)
These 16 sites, total 3,932,009 acres (1,591,228 ha)
BLM wilderness areas
These 221 sites, total 8,736,691 acres (3,535,613 ha), excludes wilderness associated with the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and other agencies
Wilderness study areas
There are 545 wilderness study areas with a total area of 12,790,291 acres (5,176,047 ha).
National historic trails
These 11 sites, total 5,343 miles (8,599 km)
Distances and states are noted for BLM lands only.
National scenic trails
5 units, total 668 miles (1,075 km)
Distances and states are noted for BLM lands only.
National wild and scenic rivers
These 38 sites, total 2,061 miles (3,317 km)
See List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers
Other
These 6 sites total 504,880 acres (204,320 ha) (note: more sites exist than are listed here)
Maps National Conservation Lands
See also
- Protected areas of the United States
References
External links
- BLM.gov: Official National Landscape Conservation System website
- BLM.gov: Complete list of wilderness study areas
- Conservation Lands Foundation
- Americanhiking.org: American Hiking Society Western Public Lands Initiative
Source of article : Wikipedia
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