In June 2000, the National Landscape Conservation System - the most innovative American land system created in the last 40 years - was established to protect the crown jewels of the public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The 26 million-acre Conservation System includes more than 800 individual units: 15 National Monuments, 13 National Conservation Areas, Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Protection Area in Oregon, Headwaters Forest Reserve in northern California, 38 Wild and Scenic Rivers, 183 Wilderness Areas, more than 5,100 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails, and 604 Wilderness Study Areas.

The mission of the National Landscape Conservation System is to "conserve, protect, and restore these nationally significant landscapes that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for the benefit of current and future generations."

The Conservation System offers the spectacular qualities of the National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges. But the System represents an innovative shift from conventional management: protecting large landscapes-entire ecosystems and archaeological communities-not small, isolated tracts surrounded by development. Arizona's Agua Fria National Monument contains hundreds of archaeological structures and sites; to understand the story these sites tell, the monument includes surrounding lands where their inhabitants traded, hunted, and farmed. Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument encompasses 800,000 acres, including parts of the watershed of the Grand Canyon.

The Conservation System also protects world-class active outdoor recreation opportunities.  With minimal infrastructure, the System provides hikers, paddlers, climbers and skiers with unique, self-directed, rugged outdoor experiences.

The System uniquely protects the remote and wild character of these places, and leaves them undeveloped. This remoteness offers us the last chance to experience the history and wild beauty of the West.