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The National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) is a 27 million acres (110,000 km²) collection of the lands considered to be the crown jewels of the American west. 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 1996, President Clinton significantly shifted this role 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 (NLCS) 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."^[1]

The System helps clarify the fundamental purposes of these places. It provides a frame whereby the mission and vision for the management and use of these lands can be better understood. There are ten different federal conservation designations for the units that make up the National Landscape Conservation System:

• National Monument
• National Conservation Area
• Wilderness Area
• Wilderness Study Area
• National Wild and Scenic River
• National Scenic Trail
• National Historic Trail
• Cooperative Management and Protection Area
• Forest Reserve
• Outstanding Natural Area

These crown jewels are some of the last places to experience the history and wild beauty of the American West, with hunting, fishing, access to the rugged outdoors, and opportunities to create your own adventure. The protection of these lands also facilitates the protection of archaeological structures and sites, providing people with the rare opportunity to connect with the nation’s past. The Conservation System also plays a critical role in preserving the ecology of the rapidly changing western landscape. The Conservation System helps maintain complex desert, forest, and grassland ecosystems and numerous watersheds. The landscapes provide the connective tissue that sustains biodiversity and seasonal wildlife migration patterns for countless wildlife species.

The Conservation System was created in 2000, but without Congressional authorization, there is no guarantee that the System will be around a decade from now. Currently, it is vulnerable to being dissolved, under-funded and mismanaged. Only the United States Congress can permanently establish the National Landscape Conservation System as the last great network of American protected lands.

The National Landscape Conservation System Act was signed into law in March 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 permanence of the System will allow the American public to engage Congress to help ensure that the Conservation System is appropriately managed and funded, and ensure that the lands are protected for future generations.

The Conservation System act was included in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which also added 1.2 million acres of new designations to the System, including a National Monument, three National Conservation Areas, Wildernes, Wild and Scenic Rivers and National Scenic Trails.

List of NLCS sites

National monuments

15 sites, total 4,806,947 acres (19,453 km²)

National conservation areas

13 sites, total 14,101,234 acres (62,354 km²)

Wilderness areas

177 sites, total 7,327,632 acres (29,654 km²)

Wilderness study areas

604 sites, total 15,566,656 acres (62,966 km²)

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Aden Lava Flow Wilderness Study Area
• Little Humboldt River Wilderness Study Area
• Marble Canyon Wilderness Study Area
• Massacre Rim Wilderness Study Area
• Million Hills Wilderness Study Area
• Morey Peak Wilderness Study Area
• Mount Grafton Wilderness Study Area
• Mount Limbo Wilderness Study Area
• Mount Stirling Wilderness Study Area
• Mountain Meadow Wilderness Study Area
• North Fork Little Humboldt Wilderness Study Area
• Owyhee Canyon Wilderness Study Area
• Palisade Mesa Wilderness Study Area
• Park Range Wilderness Study Area
• Pigeon Spring Wilderness Study Area
• Pinyon Joshua Transit Wilderness Study Area
• Pole Creek Wilderness Study Area
• Poodle Mountain Wilderness Study Area
• Pueblo Mountains Wilderness Study Area
• Queer Mountain Wilderness Study Area
• Rawhide Mountain Wilderness Study Area
• Red Spring Wilderness Study Area
• Resting Springs Wilderness Study Area
• Riordan's Well Wilderness Study Area
• Roberts Mountain Wilderness Study Area
• Rough Hills Wilderness Study Area
• Selenite Mountains Wilderness Study Area
• Sheldon Contiguous Wilderness Study Area
• Shoshone Ponds Wilderness Study Area
• Shoshone Pygmy Sage Wilderness Study Area
• Silver Peak Range Wilderness Study Area
• Simpson Park Wilderness Study Area
• Skedaddle Wilderness Study Area
• South Egan Range Wilderness Study Area
• South Fork Owyhee River Wilderness Study Area
• South Pequop Wilderness Study Area
• South Reveille Wilderness Study Area
• Stillwater Range Wilderness Study Area
• Sunrise Mountain Wilderness Study Area
• Swamp Cedar Wilderness Study Area
• The Wall Wilderness Study Area
• Tobin Range Wilderness Study Area
• Twin Peaks Wilderness Study Area
• Virgin Mountain Wilderness Study Area
• Wall Canyon Wilderness Study Area

National historic trails

10 sites, total 4,563 miles (7343 km)

• California National Historic Trail
• El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail
• Iditarod National Historic Trail
• Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
• Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail
• Nez Perce National Historic Trail
• Old Spanish National Historic Trail
• Oregon National Historic Trail
• Pony Express National Historic Trail
• Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail

National scenic trails

2 units, total 640 miles (1030 km)

• Continental Divide Trail
• Pacific Crest Trail

National wild and scenic rivers

38 sites, total 2,061 miles (3317 km)

See List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers

Other

See also

• Protected areas of the United States

References

External links

• BLM: National Landscape Conservation System
• Complete list of wilderness study areas PDF
• Conservation System Alliance Web site
• National Conservation System Foundation
• American Hiking Society Western Public Lands Initiative