Our view: Congress, president should make conservation system permanent

Arizona Daily Star

Legislation spearheaded by Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Arizona, to preserve the rugged American West should become law.
The Committee on Natural Resources approved on March 12 the bill to make permanent the 26 million-acre National Landscape Conservation System. It would protect more than 3.3 million acres and 56 miles of trails in Arizona.
The conservation system, which has existed administratively since 2000, was put in place to protect remote and rugged lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The conservation system, about 10 percent of the land managed by the BLM, is a collection of 866 public land properties, or "units" in bureau- speak. It includes:
● 15 national monuments (five are in Arizona);
● 13 national conservation areas (three are in Arizona);
● 148 wilderness areas (Arizona, 47);
● 4,264 miles of national scenic and historic trails (one national historic trail is in Arizona);
● More than 600 wilderness study areas (Arizona has two).
Without this legislation, there is no guarantee that the conservation system will exist in the future, according to Grijalva's office.