Sweeping Land Conservation Measure
By: Gary Striker, NBC
Updated: April 9, 2009
It's the most sweeping land conservation measure in a generation.
It's called the The National Landscape Conservation System and its made up of 26 million acres of federally owned land in the American west.
Now permanently protected by law.
These are lands of American postcards.
Magnificent vistas valued not only for their beauty but their ecology and history.
Wild and scenic rivers, wilderness areas and wildlife refuges and national monuments.
The land is not under the control of the National Park system but the Bureau of Land Management.
It's an agency that typically overseas operations like logging and mining and drilling.
The new laws prohibition against uses on these lands is one reason some republicans opposed the bill.
But to supporters, full legal protection for some of the most spectacular land in the west is cause for celebration.
