Our alliance of more than 80 organizations aims to create a permanent, well-funded and diverse National Landscape Conservation System.

We are hunters, hikers, archaeologists, ranchers, wildlife advocates, ministers, inner city outings guides, and local business leaders. All of us have an interest in keeping these places protected now and in the future.

The Conservation System Alliance aims to protect the 26-million acre National Landscape Conservation System by making it permanent, well-funded, well-planned, and inclusive of the Bureau of Land Management's very best lands and waters. We work on four key fronts:

Permanence

Currently, the Conservation System has no Congressional recognition like the National Parks and Wildlife Refuges do. The fact that each unit in the System stands alone leaves each unit -- and the System as a whole -- vulnerable to being dissolved, under-funded and mismanaged. A stamp of approval by Congress would help ensure that the Conservation System is appropriately managed, and would validate years of effort on the part of the many volunteers who have helped establish these places as world class destinations. It would ensure that the lands are protected for future generations.

Funding

Since its inception in 2000, the Conservation System has been drastically under-funded. The President's fiscal year 2008 budget proposal represents the lowest level of funding ever.

The Conservation System faces vandalism, oil and gas drilling, reckless off-road vehicle use and neglect. With an average of less than one ranger for every 200,000 acres, there is simply not enough staff to protect these places.

Adequate federal funding would allow Conservation System managers to hire more on-the-ground rangers. It would help prevent off-road traffic damage and vandalism to cultural sites, and it would allow scientists to conduct vital research that would result in better management decisions.

Planning

On-the-ground management decisions are key to the Conservation System's future.

Without public review and guidance, some of the Bureau of Land Management's plans for individual Conservation System units include unchecked off-road vehicle use or oil and gas drilling -- a major departure from the System's conservation mission.

Today, half of the Conservation System's units have no formal plans at all. Without vigilant monitoring, decisions at some of these units could be dictated by a few oil & gas industry interests, putting our shared cultural and recreational resources at risk.

To learn more about Resource Management Plans in your area, visit the Wilderness Society's BLM Action Center.

Including the BLM's best lands and waters

The Conservation System is meant to encompass and protect the very best lands of the Bureau of Land Management. But not all of the best lands and waters within the BLM are protected. Critical wildlife habitat, cultural sites, fragile ecosystems, recreational resources and paleontological treasures have not yet been included in the System.

As the Conservation System includes a wider diversity of landscapes, more Americans will be able to discover the Conservation System.