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National Conservation Lands, formally known as the National Landscape Conservation System, is a 35-million-acre (140,000 km2) collection of lands in 873 federally recognized areas considered to be the crown jewels of the American West.[1] These lands represent 10% of the 258 million acres (1,040,000 km2) managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM is the largest federal public land manager and is responsible for over 40% of all the federal public land in the nation. The other major federal public land managers include the US Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Over the years, the Bureau of Land Management has had to adjust its approach to public land management to fit the changing needs of the nation. The BLM historically has managed lands under its jurisdiction for extractive uses, such as mining, logging, grazing, and oil and gas production. In 1983, Congress acknowledged the value of watersheds, wildlife habitat, recreation, scenery, scientific exploration and other non-extractive uses with the designation of the first BLM-managed wilderness area—the Bear Trap Canyon unit of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in Montana.[2] In 1996, President Clinton underscored non-extractive priorities on BLM lands when he established the first national monument to be administered by the BLM—the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. With this and several similar designations, a new focus emerged that would become part of how the agency looks at the land it manages: the protection of special areas where conservation and restoration of the landscape and its biological or cultural resources is the overriding objective.
The Bureau of Land Management's National Landscape Conservation System, better known as the National Conservation Lands, was created in 2000 with the mission 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."[3]
There are eleven federal conservation designations for the units that make up the National Conservation Lands:
When the Conservation System was created in 2000 without Congressional authorization, there was no guarantee that the System would be permanent. The National Landscape Conservation System Act was signed into law in March 2009 as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The Act permanently unified the individual units as a public lands System, protecting the System in law so that it would no longer exist at the pleasure of each president. This marked the first new congressionally authorized public lands system in decades.
The act also added 1,200,000 acres (490,000 ha) of new designations to the System, including a National Monument, three National Conservation Areas, Wilderness, Wild and Scenic Rivers and National Scenic Trails.
List of National Conservation Lands areas
National monuments
29 sites totaling 11,394,457 acres (4,611,173 ha)[4]
Monument | State | Established | Federal area | Non-federal area | Total area |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Agua Fria | Arizona | 2000 | 70,900 acres (28,700 ha) | 1,444 acres (584 ha) | 72,344 acres (29,277 ha) |
Avi Kwa Ame | Nevada | 2023 | 506,814 acres (2,051.00 km2) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 506,814 acres (2,051.00 km2) |
Basin and Range | Nevada | 2015 | 704,000 acres (285,000 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 704,000 acres (285,000 ha) |
Bears Ears | Utah | 2016 | 1,363,948 acres (551,970 ha) | 26,911 acres (10,890 ha) | 1,390,859 acres (562,861 ha) |
Berryessa Snow Mountain | California | 2015 | 330,780 acres (133,860 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 330,780 acres (133,860 ha) |
Browns Canyon | Colorado | 2015 | 21,586 acres (8,736 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 21,586 acres (8,736 ha) |
California Coastal | California | 2000 | 8,858 acres (3,585 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 8,858 acres (3,585 ha) |
Canyons of the Ancients | Colorado | 2000 | 163,892 acres (66,325 ha) | 12,164 acres (4,923 ha) | 176,056 acres (71,247 ha) |
Carrizo Plain | California | 2001 | 207,237 acres (83,866 ha) | 39,575 acres (16,015 ha) | 246,812 acres (99,881 ha) |
Cascade–Siskiyou | Oregon | 2000 | 112,928 acres (45,700 ha) | 19,752 acres (7,993 ha) | 112,928 acres (45,700 ha) |
Craters of the Moon | Idaho | 2000 | 727,525 acres (294,419 ha) | 14,801 acres (5,990 ha) | 752,326 acres (304,456 ha) |
Fort Ord | California | 2012 | 14,651 acres (5,929 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 14,651 acres (5,929 ha) |
Gold Butte | Nevada | 2016 | 296,937 acres (120,166 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 296,937 acres (120,166 ha) |
Grand Canyon-Parashant | Arizona | 2000 | 1,017,200 acres (411,600 ha) | 31,125 acres (12,596 ha) | 1,048,325 acres (424,242 ha) |
Grand Staircase–Escalante | Utah | 1996 | 1,866,484 acres (755,339 ha) | 13,977 acres (5,656 ha) | 1,880,461 acres (760,996 ha) |
Ironwood Forest | Arizona | 2000 | 1,286,970 acres (520,820 ha) | 59,922 acres (24,250 ha) | 188,619 acres (76,331 ha) |
Jurassic | Utah | 2019 | 850 acres (340 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 850 acres (340 ha) |
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks | New Mexico | 2001 | 4,124 acres (1,669 ha) | 1,278 acres (517 ha) | 5,402 acres (2,186 ha) |
Mojave Trails | California | 2016 | 1,600,000 acres (650,000 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 1,600,000 acres (650,000 ha) |
Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks | New Mexico | 2014 | 496,330 acres (200,860 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 496,330 acres (200,860 ha) |
Pompeys Pillar | Montana | 2001 | 51 acres (21 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 51 acres (21 ha) |
Prehistoric Trackways | New Mexico | 2009 | 5,255 acres (2,127 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 5,255 acres (2,127 ha) |
Rio Grande del Norte | New Mexico | 2013 | 242,555 acres (98,159 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 242,555 acres (98,159 ha) |
San Juan Islands | Washington | 2013 | 1,000 acres (400 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 1,000 acres (400 ha) |
Sand To Snow | California | 2016 | 154,000 acres (62,000 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 154,000 acres (62,000 ha) |
Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains | California | 2000, 2009 | 177,128 acres (71,681 ha) | 102,943 acres (41,660 ha) | 280,071 acres (113,341 ha) |
Sonoran Desert | Arizona | 2001 | 486,600 acres (196,900 ha) | 9,800 acres (4,000 ha) | 496,400 acres (200,900 ha) |
Upper Missouri River Breaks | Montana | 2001 | 374,976 acres (151,747 ha) | 120,475 acres (48,755 ha) | 495,451 acres (200,502 ha) |
Vermilion Cliffs | Arizona | 2000 | 279,568 acres (113,137 ha) | 14,121 acres (5,715 ha) | 293,689 acres (118,852 ha) |
National conservation areas (NCAs)
17 sites totaling 3,708,472 acres (1,500,765 ha)[5]
Conservation Area | State | Established | Federal area | Non-federal area | Total area |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beaver Dam Wash | Utah | 2009 | 64,478 acres (26,093 ha) | 8,619 acres (3,488 ha) | 73,097 acres (29,581 ha) |
Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails | Nevada | 2000 | 800,025 acres (323,759 ha) | 16,320 acres (6,600 ha) | 816,345 acres (330,363 ha) |
Dominguez–Escalante | Colorado | 2009 | 209,610 acres (84,830 ha) | 0 | 209,610 acres (84,830 ha) |
El Malpais | New Mexico | 1987 | 272,646 acres (110,336 ha) | 20,264 acres (8,201 ha) | 292,910 acres (118,540 ha) |
Fort Stanton–Snowy River Cave | New Mexico | 2009 | 24,977 acres (10,108 ha) | 2,981 acres (1,206 ha) | 27,968 acres (11,318 ha) |
Gila Box Riparian | Arizona | 1990 | 21,767 acres (8,809 ha) | 1,720 acres (700 ha) | 23,487 acres (9,505 ha) |
Gunnison Gorge | Colorado | 1999 | 62,396 acres (25,251 ha) | 1,673 acres (677 ha) | 65,069 acres (26,332 ha) |
John Wesley Powell | Utah | 2019 | 29,868 acres (12,087 ha) | 0 acres (0 ha) | 29,868 acres (12,087 ha) |
King Range | California | 1970 | 56,167 acres (22,730 ha) | 6,320 acres (2,560 ha) | 62,487 acres (25,288 ha) |
Las Cienegas | Arizona | 2000 | 41,972 acres (16,985 ha) | 5,307 acres (2,148 ha) | 47,279 acres (19,133 ha) |
McInnis Canyons | Colorado | 2000 | 122,929 acres (49,748 ha) | 1,236 acres (500 ha) | 124,165 acres (50,248 ha) |
Red Cliffs | Utah | 2009 | 44,825 acres (18,140 ha) | 16,397 acres (6,636 ha) | 61,222 acres (24,776 ha) |
Red Rock Canyon | Nevada | 1990 | 198,065 acres (80,154 ha) | 0 | 198,065 acres (80,154 ha) |
San Pedro Riparian | Arizona | 1988 | 55,495 acres (22,458 ha) | 2,505 acres (1,014 ha) | 58,000 acres (23,000 ha) |
Sloan Canyon | Nevada | 2002 | 48,438 acres (19,602 ha) | 81 acres (33 ha) | 48,519 acres (19,635 ha) |
Snake River Birds of Prey | Idaho | 1993 | 486,741 acres (196,977 ha) | 144,377 acres (58,427 ha) | 601,018 acres (243,223 ha) |
Steese | Alaska | 1980 | 1,208,624 acres (489,113 ha) | 14,144 acres (5,724 ha) | 1,222,738 acres (494,825 ha) |
BLM wilderness areas
221 sites totaling 8,736,691 acres (3,535,613 ha); excludes wilderness associated with other agencies[6]