> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 19, 2009
> CONTACT: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384
>
>
>      Senate Passes Historic Protection for Wilderness, Rivers, Parks
>             Final House Passage of Measure Expected Next Week
>
>
> Washington, D.C.- The Senate voted today to safeguard millions of acres of
> new wilderness, protect hundreds of miles of rivers, expand trails, and
> protect critical habitat in Wyoming from oil and gas leasing.  This is the
> bill's last stop in the Senate, with final passage in the House of
> Representatives expected to come next week.
>
> The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (H.R. 146) passed on a vote
> of 77 to 20. The bill protects more than two million acres of wilderness 
> in
> eight states, including the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, Oregon’s
> Mt. Hood, and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
>
> "This is the biggest wilderness protection bill in decades," said Sierra
> Club executive director Carl Pope.
>
> "Today, Congress has helped ensure that we will have a wild legacy to pass
> on to our children and grandchildren. This bill helps guarantee that 
> future
> generations will be able to hike in pristine forests from California to
> West Virginia. They'll be able to fish America's untouched rivers, watch
> antelope migrate through Wyoming, and take their families camping in the
> stunning Rocky Mountains."
>
> In addition to safeguarding new wilderness, the bill finalizes the
> 26-million-acre National Landscape Conservation System, protects hundreds
> of miles of free-flowing rivers in six states, and designates numerous new
> National Scenic Trails, Natural Historic Sites, and National Heritage 
> Areas
> across the United States. It also shelters over a million acres of key
> hunting and fishing grounds on the Wyoming Range from oil and gas 
> drilling.
>
>
> "Wilderness, rivers, trails and parks support important tourist economies
> across the country," said Pope. "This legislation will protect the tourist
> dollars and jobs that outdoor recreation generates by keeping our last,
> best places safe from unchecked industrial development."
>
> Overview of the Omnibus Lands Package:
>
> -The bill codifies and adds permanence to the National Landscape
> Conservation System, which includes all of the Clinton/Babbitt-era 
> national
> monuments, wilderness study areas, and other protective designations,
> encompassing more than 26 million acres.
>
> -The bill will protect more than 1 million acres of the Wyoming Range from
> oil and gas development.
>
> -The bill also includes the Forest Landscape Restoration Act and the San
> Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act.
>
> -The package includes five important ocean protections:
> 1. NOAA Undersea Research Program Act
> 2. The Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act
> 3. The Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act
> 4. The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act
> 5. The Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program.
>
> -Wilderness Protection includes:
> 1.  Wild Monongahela Wilderness - WV
> 2.  Virginia Ridge and Valley Wilderness - VA
> 3.  Mt. Hood Wilderness - OR
> 4.  Copper Salmon Wilderness - OR
> 5.  Cascade Siskiyou National Monument (Includes Soda Mt. Wilderness) - OR
> 6.  Owyhee Public Land Management - ID
> 7.  Sabinoso Wilderness - NM
> 8.  Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Wilderness - MI
> 9.  Oregon Badlands Wilderness - OR
> 10.  Spring Basin Wilderness - OR
> 11.  Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wilderness - CA
> 12.  Riverside County Wilderness - CA
> 13.  Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park Wilderness - CA
> 14.  Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness - CO
> 15.  Washington County - UT
>
>
>                                   # # #
 

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