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President Signs Legislation that Enhances Protection for Public Lands in UtahContact: Lola Bird, 801-539-4033 Salt Lake City, Utah—March 31, 2009—On March 30, President Obama signed into law an omnibus lands bill that enhances protection for public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management across the West, including Utah. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar hailed the bill as a “milestone for the stewardship of America’s natural wonders. This legislation is the product of years of work in hundreds of communities across America, where citizens, elected officials, stakeholders and land managers have forged wise protections for our treasured landscapes that will boost local economies while protecting traditional ways of life. The conservation areas, wild lands, and open spaces protected through this landmark legislation will be a proud legacy for generations to come.” The bill’s BLM land designations include Wilderness Areas in California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah; four new National Conservation Areas in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah; one new National Monument in New Mexico; and new Wild and Scenic River designations in Idaho, California, and Utah. The legislation, cleared for the President’s signature after passage by the U.S. House on a 285-140 vote last week, also codifies the BLM’s administratively created National Landscape Conservation System, which consists of 850 Federally recognized areas covering 27 million acres of BLM-managed land. In Utah, on BLM-administered lands, the bill designates nearly 22 miles of Utah rivers as wild and scenic, designates close to 130,000 acres of BLM-managed wilderness in Washington County and creates two new National Conservation Areas comprising more than 112,000 acres. The BLM manages more land – 256 million surface acres – than any other Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, and cultural resources on the public lands.
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