On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration, the senate has been hard at work on conservation legislation. Yesterday, they passed a package of 170 land and water bills that are expected to go to the house for final approval. The house passed the package in April 2008. Among these is the National Land Conservation System Act, which would permanently conserve 26 million acres of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s best land and water. The legislation is also set to designate 2 million acres as wilderness in nine states.
The National Landscape Conservation System was created by presidential order by the Clinton administration in June of 2000 and includes more than 800 individual land units: 15 National Monuments, 13 National Conservation Areas, Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Protection Area in Oregon, Headwaters Forest Reserve in northern California, 38 Wild and Scenic Rivers, 183 Wilderness Areas, more than 5,100 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails, and 604 Wilderness Study Areas.
The status of presidential order rather than act left the National Landscape Conservation System vulnerable for future tampering. The Act is poised to protect the system for posterity and to make it more of a priority within the mission of the Bureau of Land Management. While the act has had momentum and bi-partisan support, it’s passage has been a long battle.
Obama’s designee for interior secretary, Ken Salazar, is a co-sponsor of the legislation and is widely credited for moving the legislation through the senate. It looks like Obama will sign this legislation early in his tenure, marking a sharp departure from the environmentally hostile stance of the previous adminstration.
