On March 30, 2009 President Barack Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (P.L.111-11).  The Act Congressionally established the Bureau of Land Management’s National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS).  This System provides a framework for managing BLM’s specially designated conservation areas as part of the BLM’s multiple-use mission.   NLCS includes national monuments, national conservation areas and similar designations, wilderness, wilderness study areas, wild and scenic rivers, and national scenic and historic trails.  

The new law brings into the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System nearly 928,000 acres of wilderness, one national monument, four conservation areas, 362 miles of wild and scenic Rivers, and 40 miles of national scenic trails.  This totals over 1,200,000 acres of newly designated conservation area lands.  These lands along with the other NLCS units will be managed to conserve, protect, and restore their exceptional scientific, ecological, and cultural values.