by Geoff Koss, CongressNow

A broad coalition of conservation interests is pressing for quick action this year on legislation that would make permanent a Clinton-era network of public lands administered by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management.

For the Conservation System Alliance, which includes environmental, preservation, faith-based and recreation groups as its members, enactment of the National Landscape Conservation System Act (H.R. 2016, S.1139) is a top priority, a coalition representative said.

The legislation would provide a statutory basis for the National Landscape Conservation System, or NLCS, a 26 million acre network of public lands created administratively by Clinton Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in 2000 and overseen by the BLM. The network includes national monuments, federal wilderness areas, national scenic and historic trails and other designated public lands.

Enshrining the NLCS by statute would ensure its permanency, provide Congressional direction into its administration, enhance its stature within the BLM and authorize funds specifically for its operations, the bill’s proponents say.

"What this legislation does do is provide the system with a Congressional stamp of approval, giving the NLCS the direction and backing it needs to flourish in years to come," said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) at a June hearing on the bill. Grijalva is the House bill’s sponsor and chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

The legislation is also supported by the Bush administration, which voiced support for it at the hearing. Making the program permanent "will assure that these landscapes of the American spirit would be conserved, protected and restored for the benefit of current and future generations, " testified Elena Daly, the BLM director of the program.

However, the bill has elicited criticism from some Western lawmakers and land-use groups, who fear it could limit access and use of public lands.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the ranking Republican on the national parks subcommittee, voiced "serious concerns" about the bill in June.

"Coming from a state where much of our land is already under federal lock and key, you should be able to understand why I am less than enthusiastic to see another level of bureaucracy placed over us," he said. "This appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to insert restrictive National Park Service management methods in order to lock up public lands which were intended to be multi-use."

Brian Hawthorne, the public lands policy director for the BlueRibbon Coalition, which works to ensure motorized access to public lands, said the group opposes the legislation, but added that it would probably do little to affect future management plans on BLM lands, which have become increasingly restrictive for years.

"The agency has been moving away from multiple-use/sustained yield management for many years now," he said. "The NLCS legislation probably won’t have any affect on future management one way or another."

However, proponents of the bill say it would not affect private landholdings or existing oil and gas leases, nor limit public access to lands for recreation.

A spokeswoman for Grijalva today said he is "hopeful" it will receive a full committee hearing or markup in the near future. A spokeswoman for House

Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W. Va.) today said only the bill is "under consideration."

The Senate bill (S. 1139) has already cleared the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a spokesman for the panel's chairman and bill sponsor Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said today. The legislation will be brought to the floor with a package of other committee-approved Senate public lands bills, as soon as an agreement can be reached with Republicans, the spokesman said.

"We’re very hopeful and looking forward to the package of Senate bills moving expeditiously when [Senators] get back," he said.