Jeff Bingaman: “together with Senators Salazar, Cantwell, and Sanders, I am pleased today to introduce legislation to codify the…”

“together with Senators Salazar, Cantwell, and Sanders, I am pleased today to introduce legislation to codify the National Landscape Conservation System, the collection of national monuments, national conservation areas, wilderness areas, wild and scenic rivers and other remarkable landscapes on our public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The National Landscape Conservation System was established administratively by the Department of the Interior in 2000 and consists of all areas the BLM administers for conservation purposes. The concept behind grouping all of these areas into one system was to increase public awareness of the importance of these lands and to highlight the BLM's conservation of these areas and their cultural, historical, scientific, and ecological significance to the Nation. Within my own State of New Mexico, the National Landscape Conservation System encompasses several nationally significant areas, including the rugged lava flows of El Malpais National Conservation Area, the unique cone-shaped rock formations of the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River, the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and Old Spanish Trail National Historic Trails, as well as over one million acres of wilderness and wilderness study areas.”