National Landscape Conservation System

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Sportsmen in the West are the direct beneficiaries of an effort to protect a little-known public lands network presently managed by the Bureau of Land Management – the National Landscape Conservation System. The system, created in the late 1990s,  includes landscapes of all types, from remote desert canyons – home to bighorn sheep and coveys of quail – to pristine alpine valleys where anglers can lose themselves trout fishing for days at a time. Originally, the Conservation System only enjoyed administrative protection, but with the support of sportsmen and women, these places provide excellent hunting and fishing opportunities now, and for generations to come.

In March, 2009, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, the bill that contained the National Landscape Conservation System Permanence Act. With that vote, over 26 million acres of public land was granted protection in perpetuity, including Colorado’s Gunnison Gorge and Oregon’s Steens Mountain region. Thanks to Congress, and to the dedication of  organizations like the SCP, that protection is now permanent, and that gives sportsmen all over the West guaranteed access to some of the last, best fish and game habitat left in the country.