UPDATE, 4/15/08, via the National Wildlife Federation (NWF):

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to approve the National Landscape Conservation System Act by a vote of 278-140! This Conservation System protects wildlife in 26 million acres of majestic landscapes and watersheds across the America. We could not have succeeded without your support!

Interested in learning more about the areas included in the National Landscape Conservation System?

Please visit www.conservationsystem.org

Stay tuned, as we now expect the bill to go to the Senate for their consideration.

My rep voted NO. Gawd, sometimes living in the stick sux.

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With a Congressional vote coming up this Wednesday, Drew at The Wilderness Society asked me to ask you to contact your rep and urge them to grant permanent protection to the National Landscape Conservation System.

Just what is the the National Landscape Conservation System, you ask?

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 National Landscape Conservation System Act (HR 2016), which moves to the House floor on April 9th, will if passed formally establish the proposed Conservation System. You can take action and urge your rep to vote yes on HR 2016 here.

To learn more, visit www.conservationsystem.org - or check out this nifty video intro from The Wilderness Society:

And be sure to spread the word!

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