[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4679-S4680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mr. Salazar, Ms. Cantwell, and Mr. 
        Sanders):
  S. 1139. A bill to establish the National Landscape Conservation 
System; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, 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.
  However, because the NLCS was established administratively, it does 
not have the permanence that it would have if enacted legislatively. In 
addition, legislative enactment of the NLCS will help increase the 
attention to these important, congressionally protected areas, and 
hopefully will help ensure that the system remains a high priority 
within the BLM and the Department of the Interior. The bill does not 
create any new management authority and does not change the authorities 
for any of the previously designated areas within the system.
  Given the broad public support for these areas, I expect this bill to 
be non-controversial and it is my hope that it will be able to move 
quickly through the Congress and enactment into law.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1139

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``National Landscape 
     Conservation System Act''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.
       (2) System.--The term ``system'' means the National 
     Landscape Conservation System established by section 3(a).

     SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION 
                   SYSTEM.

       (a) Establishment.--In order to conserve, protect, and 
     restore nationally significant landscapes that have 
     outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for 
     the benefit of current and future generations, there is 
     established in the Bureau of Land Management the National 
     Landscape Conservation System.
       (b) Components.--The system shall include each of the 
     following areas administered by the Bureau of Land 
     Management:
       (1) Each area that is designated as--
       (A) a national monument;
       (B) a national conservation area;
       (C) an outstanding natural area;
       (D) a wilderness study area;
       (E) a component of the National Trails System;
       (F) a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers 
     System; or
       (G) a component of the National Wilderness Preservation 
     System.
       (2) Any area designated by Congress to be administered for 
     conservation purposes, including--
       (A) the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and 
     Protection Area, as designated under section 101(a) of the 
     Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 
     2000 (16 U.S.C. 460nnn-11(a));
       (B) the Headwaters Forest Reserve; and
       (C) any additional area designated by Congress for 
     inclusion in the system.
       (c) Management.--The Secretary shall manage the system--
       (1) in accordance with any applicable law (including 
     regulations) relating to any component of the system included 
     under subsection (b); and
       (2) in a manner that protects the values for which the 
     components of the system were designated.

[[Page S4680]]

     SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are 
     necessary to carry out this Act.

  Mr. Salazar. Mr. President, today Senator Bingaman and I are 
introducing the National Landscape Conservation System Act, a bill that 
will help protect some of our Nation's most treasured landscapes.
  This bill, which we are introducing with Senators Cantwell and 
Sanders, will make permanent a system of management for the 26 million 
most spectacular acres of the 260 million acres that the Bureau of Land 
Management oversees.
  The National Landscape Conservation System was created 
administratively in 2000 to guide the management of the national 
monuments, national conservation areas, national wild and scenic 
rivers, wilderness areas, wilderness study areas, and national historic 
and scenic trails that are under the BLM's authority.
  Many of these lands are on par with our national parks in their 
beauty and value to the American people. Unfortunately, the National 
Landscape Conservation System has taken a backseat in our country's 
land conservation efforts. The NLCS has been shortchanged in funding in 
the President's budget year in and year out. There are not enough 
resources or staff to properly manage these lands, and we are hearing a 
growing number of reports that natural, cultural, and archaeological 
sites on NLCS lands are being overrun or destroyed. Last year, a report 
by the National Trust for Historic Preservation painted a disappointing 
portrait of how cultural resources are being managed on BLM lands.
  At Colorado's Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, home to the 
highest density of cultural sites in America, 47 ancestral Puebloan 
sites were looted in the first half of 2006. With only one law 
enforcement officer for the entire monument, it is almost impossible to 
prevent this type of vandalism.
  At McInnis Canyon National Conservation Area, also in Colorado, the 
one law enforcement officer splits his time with other lands overseen 
by the BLM field office. How is one officer to be expected to protect 
1.3 million acres of BLM land?
  This same unit of the NLCS shares an archaeologist with the Grand 
Junction, CO, field office. There is no way that an individual can 
oversee the archaeological surveys under way in the area's booming oil 
and gas fields while still ensuring that the conservation area's 
petroglyphs, fossils, and archaeological treasures are documented and 
protected.
  The Secretary of the Interior took a good step in 2000 when he 
established the National Landscape Conservation System. The BLM should 
have additional resources and tools for the management of lands that 
the American people have determined to be of exceptional natural, 
cultural, recreational, scenic, or historic value. Unfortunately, this 
system has not come far in the last 7 years.
  The administration provides no line item in the President's budget 
for the system, NLCS units have endured repeated funding cuts, and 
there are meager plans for where the system is going over the coming 
decades.
  The bill that Senator Bingaman and I are introducing today takes the 
first step in improving the stewardship of these crown jewel BLM lands. 
It is a straightforward bill: it simply writes the National Landscape 
Conservation System into law, making it permanent for the enjoyment of 
future generations.
  The bill does not change how any of the units in the system are 
managed. Grazing rights, water rights, and public access to the 
national monuments, the wilderness areas, and the conservation areas 
are unchanged.
  The bill does, however, recognize that these landscapes are of great 
interest to the American people and should be managed to protect their 
values.
  Over the coming decades, these lands will become more widely used and 
known. Americans are already coming to see these landscapes--places 
like canyons of the Ancients National Monument or Gunnison Gorge 
National Conservation Area--as treasures that match our great national 
parks and wildlife refuges.
  This bill is a logical and needed step toward improving the 
management of the units that comprise the National Landscape 
Conservation. I thank Chairman Bingaman for his leadership on this 
issue, and I hope we will have an opportunity to move this bill through 
the Senate as quickly as possible.
                                 ______