Obama Signs the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009
March 30, 2009 NYTimes
That's the spirit behind the bipartisan legislation I'm signing today -- legislation among the most important in decades to protect, preserve, and pass down our nation's most treasured landscapes to future generations.
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This legislation -- just to give you a sense of the scope -- this legislation guarantees that we will not take our forests, rivers, oceans, national parks, monuments, and wilderness areas for granted; but rather we will set them aside and guard their sanctity for everyone to share. That's something all Americans can support.
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protecting the wild back country of Rocky Mountain National Park
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Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park
NYTimes
It protects treasured places from the Appalachians of Virginia and West Virginia to Michigan's Upper Peninsula; from the canyons of Idaho to the sandstone cliffs of Utah; from the Sierra Nevadas in California to the Badlands of Oregon
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Appalachians West Virginia
Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Canyons of Idaho
Cliffs of Utah
Cliffs of Utah
Cliffs of Utah
Sierra Nevadas in California
Sierra Nevadas in California
Sierra Nevadas in California
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It designates more than 2 million acres across nine states as wilderness; almost as much as was designated over the past eight years combined.
It creates thousands of miles of new scenic, historic, and recreational trails, cares for our historic battlefields, strengthens our National Park System.
It safeguards more than 1,000 miles of our rivers, protects watersheds and cleans up polluted groundwater, defends our oceans and Great Lakes, and will revitalize our fisheries, returning fish to rivers that have not seen them in decades.
Great Lakes
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When coupled with the Recovery Act, which makes an historic $3 billion investment creating jobs that will restore and protect our landscapes and our ecosystems, preserve our national monuments, retrofit our facilities for energy efficiency and renewable energy-- taken together, today's legislation takes another step toward fulfilling Teddy Roosevelt's vision for this land that we love.
NYTimes
Obama signs sweeping public lands reform legislation
CNN
Conservationists claimed one of their most significant victories of the new administration Monday as President Obama signed sweeping land reform legislation designating 2 million additional acres of public wilderness areas.
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Among other things, the law also establishes 10 new National Heritage sites, authorizes numerous Bureau of Reclamation water projects, and alters several national park boundaries. It specifically creates 21 new wilderness areas and expands 19 existing wilderness areas in 10 national forests.
Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009: Huge benefit for the West
Now, President Obama is signing a law that will expand protection to over 160 other wilderness components, including the following:
- Oregon Badlands Wilderness Act to protect 30,000 acres of desert wilderness in Central Oregon.
- Spring Basin Wilderness Act to protect 8,600 acres of scenic wilderness long the John Day River in Central Oregon.
- Copper Salmon Wilderness Act of Oregon to protect 13,000 acres of old growth forest along the head of the Elk River; one of the most prolific salmon fisheries in the west.
- Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Voluntary and Equitable Grazing Conflict Resolution Act of Oregon to protect 23,000 acres of pristine flowering meadows and old growth forests and insure voluntary relinquishment of grazing permits.
- Owyhee Public Lands Management Act 2007 of Idaho to protect over a half million acres of wilderness and 315 miles of streams and rivers in the scenic high desert country along the Owyhee River.
- National landscape Conservation System Act that has designated 26 million acres of "crown jewels" administered by the Bureau of Land Management from Alaska to the southern tip of Florida.
http://www.examiner.com/...
Oregon Badlands
John Day River in Central Oregon
John Day River in Central Oregon
Copper Salmon Wilderness Act of Oregon
Cascade-Siskiyou, Oregon
Cascade-Siskiyou, Oregon
Owyhee Public Lands, Oregon & Idaho
Owyhee Public Lands, Oregon & Idaho
Obama Signs Major Land Conservation Law
By Juliet Eilperin
The measure, a collection of 170 different bills that represents the most significant wilderness law in at least 15 years, would provide the highest level of federal protection to areas such as Oregon's Mount Hood and part of Virginia's Jefferson National Forest, along with other sites in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Utah and West Virginia. It also authorizes the first coordinated federal research program to investigate ocean acidification and additional funding to protect ecologically-valuable coastal areas and estuaries.
Oregon's Mount Hood
Virginia's Jefferson National Forest
Virginia's Jefferson National Forest
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The law also establishes the 26-million acre National Landscape Conservation System, which aims to protect the most environmentally and historically-significant lands controlled by the BLM. The new system, which encompasses 850 sites including the Canyons of Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado, Agua Fria National Monument in Arizona and Nevada's Black Rock Desert National Conservation Area, requires the agency to make conservation a priority when managing these areas.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
Canyons of the Ancients, Colorado
Canyons of the Ancients, Colorado
Canyons of the Ancients, Colorado
Agua Fria National Monument in Arizona
Agua Fria National Monument in Arizona
Nevada's Black Rock Desert
Nevada's Black Rock Desert
National Landscape Conservation System
National Landscape Conservation System Web Site
Public Lands Omnibus final -- A preview
http://www.youtube.com/...
Enjoy your Natural Heritage!