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National Landscape Conservation Act
On April 9, 2008 the full House of Representatives will be voting on H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation Act, which will simply officially authorize a conservation system that has been in place for eight years. To help ensure passage of this important conservation bill we need you to contact your Senators and Congressional representative and let them know you support the bill and want them to as well.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , I'm writing to respectfully ask for your support of H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation System Act. I wholeheartedly support the purpose of the NLCS, which is to preserve open space through coordinated management of National Conservation Areas, National Monuments, Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and National Historic and Scenic Trails. These public lands are living history books of the American West and are home to many rare and declining species that deserve protection. By unifying them into a single system under the Bureau of Land Management's careful management, we are ensuring that these irreplaceable treasures will be preserved for future generations. It's doubly important because resource and protection issues cannot be looked at in any kind of comprehensive way until the system is authorized by Congress. Please support H.R. 2016
Sincerely, |
Campaign Launched: |
| Background Information |
What is the NLCS?
The National Landscape Conservation System is a 26 million acre network of special lands - including National Monuments, Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas, National Scenic and Historic Trails, Wild and
These special lands encompass only 10% of BLM lands and waters, but include many important cultural, archeological, social, paleontological, geological and biological resources. Collectively, the 866 individual units within the NLCS accommodate a third of BLM's recreation use.
Why is Permanent Recognition of the NLCS Important?
Permanent recognition will provide appropriate, long-overdue congressional recognition for the National Landscape Conservation System. While each unit was created pursuant to various statutory authorities and have been informally collected into a "system," the NLCS itself has not been established statutorily. Every other major federal land system in the country enjoyes congressional recognition. Such recognition will:
- Ensure the System's permanency
- Sustain the special management of units within the System that were set aside for their remarkable natural, historical, recreation, and/or cultural attributes
- Facilitate a maturation of a national perspective for the NLCS that will lead to improved management
- Encourage recognition within the BLM of the NLCS as an important and cherished responsibility
- Increase attention paid to the lands by research institutions, researchers, policy-makers and the public
- Encourage scientists to undertake fundamental and applied research on NLCS lands