The National Landscape Conservation System
In June 2000, the National Landscape Conservation System - the most innovative American land system created in the last 40 years - was established to protect the crown jewels of the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The 26 million-acre Conservation System includes more than 800 individual 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 mission of the National Landscape Conservation System is 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."

The Conservation System offers the spectacular qualities of the National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges. But the System represents an innovative shift from conventional management: protecting large landscapes-entire ecosystems and archaeological communities-not small, isolated tracts surrounded by development. Arizona's Agua Fria National Monument contains hundreds of archaeological structures and sites; to understand the story these sites tell, the monument includes surrounding lands where their inhabitants traded, hunted, and farmed. Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument encompasses 800,000 acres, including parts of the watershed of the Grand Canyon.

The Conservation System also protects world-class active outdoor recreation opportunities.  With minimal infrastructure, the System provides hikers, paddlers, climbers and skiers with unique, self-directed, rugged outdoor experiences.

The System uniquely protects the remote and wild character of these places, and leaves them undeveloped. This remoteness offers us the last chance to experience the history and wild beauty of the West.

The National Landscape Conservation System Act

The Conservation System Act is simple legislation that codifies the National Landscape Conservation System. The Conservation System has been administratively supported by the most recent Democratic and Republican administrations, but has not yet received a formal congressional authorization. The Act will provide overdue congressional recognition for the National Landscape Conservation System, which contains some of America’s most stunning lands and waters. The Conservation System is focused on preserving intact Western landscapes with historical antiquities in their original settings. These BLM lands have wild, rugged characteristics where visitors can enjoy a remote experience symbolic of the American West. Congressional recognition provides the System with the recognition of a unified system and an endorsement of their importance.

The National Landscape Conservation System

• Provides a Congressional Stamp of Approval for the System: The Conservation System Act is straightforward legislation that simply provides statutory recognition of the existing National Landscape Conservation System, its units, the purposes for which the System was established and a general authorization for appropriations. Bipartisan support for the System and codification legislation already exists within the National Landscape Conservation System Caucus, co-chaired by Representative Grijalva, Moran, Bono and Renzi.

• Unifies Separate Units into a Coherent System: While each of the units, such as National Monuments or National Historic Trails, were created pursuant to various statutory authorities and have been informally organized as a system, the National Landscape Conservation System itself has not been established statutorily. Codification will recognize a single, unifying System within the Bureau of Land Management, ensuring consistent management in keeping with the System’s conservation mission and each area’s establishing legislation or proclamations. This will also facilitate more efficient communications and management within the BLM, as it will now have clear direction from Congress to manage these lands and waters as a System.

• Ensures Permanence: The Act will permanently establish perhaps the last great American system of protected lands. By enacting codifying legislation, Congress will ensure the System’s permanence and an enduring legacy of the West’s natural and cultural heritage for future generations. Codification would prevent any future misguided attempts to dissolve the System.

• Enhances the System’s Stature within the Department of Interior: By taking action, Congress can ensure that the System will rise in stature as a system of crown jewel lands alongside those administered by the National Park Service. Codification will ensure that BLM recognizes the Conservation System as a priority program.

• Would not impact private in-holdings or lands managed by other agencies; alter existing oil and gas or grazing leases or other grandfathered uses; limit public access or activities such as fishing and hunting; or in any way affect units that are co-managed with other federal agencies, as only BLM lands would be included in the System. It would not affect the underlying enabling legislation for individual units.