The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at 16.7 million acres. Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is managed by the United States Forest Service, encompasses islands of the Alexander Archipelago, fjords and glaciers, and peaks of the Coast Mountains. An international border with Canada runs along the crest of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The forest is administered from Forest Service offices in Ketchikan. There are local ranger district offices located in Craig, Hoonah, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Thorne Bay, Wrangell, and Yakutat.
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a United States federal law signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over 157,000,000 acres (64,000,000 ha) of land, including national parks, national wildlife refuges, national monuments, wild and scenic rivers, recreational areas, national forests, and conservation areas. It was, and remains to date, the single largest expansion of protected lands in history and more than doubled the size of the National Park System.
The Gospel Hump Wilderness is a federally-protected wilderness area that covers 205,796 acres (83,283 ha) of the state of Idaho. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it received wilderness designation on February 24, 1978 through the passage of the Endangered American Wilderness Act and is part of Nez Perce National Forest. As part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, the Gospel Hump Wilderness is an area where human development and use are restricted and people are to remain only visitors.
The Frank Church—River of No Return Wilderness Area is a protected wilderness area in Idaho. It was created in 1980 by the United States Congress and renamed in 1984 as the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area in honor of U.S. Senator Frank Church.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a wilderness preservation organization in the United States based in Salt Lake City, Utah, with field offices in Washington, D.C. and Moab, Utah. The organization formed in 1983 and is a partner in the Utah Wilderness Coalition, a coalition of organizations nationwide that support federal wilderness designation for deserving public lands in Utah.
New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve is a national reserve that encompasses the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness areas are managed by four federal land management agencies: the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
The National Wildlife Refuge System in the United States has a long and distinguished history.
Mark Eugene Amodei is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Nevada's 2nd congressional district since 2011. The only Republican in Nevada's congressional delegation, he served in the Nevada Assembly from 1997 to 1999 and in the Nevada Senate, representing the Capital District, from 1999 to 2011. Amodei chaired the Nevada Republican Party from 2010 until 2011, when he stepped down in order to pursue the nomination for a special election for Congress; he was the Republican nominee in the election held on September 13, 2011, to replace Dean Heller, who had been appointed to the United States Senate. He became the dean of Nevada's congressional delegation once Heller lost his election for a second full term in 2019, although Dina Titus served one term in the House before he was first elected.
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 is a land management law passed in the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2009. The bill designates millions of acres in the US as protected and establishes a National Landscape Conservation System. It includes funding for programs, studies and other activities by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and in some cases bars further geothermal leasing, oil and gas leasing, and new mining patents on certain stretches of protected land.
Conservation in the United States can be traced back to the 19th century with the formation of the first National Park. Conservation generally refers to the act of consciously and efficiently using land and/or its natural resources. This can be in the form of setting aside tracts of land for protection from hunting or urban development, or it can take the form of using less resources such as metal, water, or coal. Usually, this process of conservation occurs through or after legislation on local or national levels is passed.
The Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 was an act passed in the 110th United States Congress and enacted on May 8, 2008.
The California Desert Protection Act of 2010 was legislation proposed by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. The stated aim of the legislation was "to provide for conservation, enhanced recreation opportunities, and development of renewable energy in the California Desert Conservation Area."
The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 is a federal law, signed by President Bill Clinton, and passed by the United States Congress on October 8, 1994, that established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve in the California desert.
The Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act is a United States public law that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives of the 113th United States Congress on January 23, 2013 by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT). The law outlines a swap in the ownership of mineral rights of certain pieces of land located in Utah. The United States federal government, Utah's School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA), and the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation are all involved in the exchange.
Browns Canyon National Monument is a 21,586 acres (87 km2) national monument in Chaffee County, Colorado, that was designated as such by President Barack Obama under the Antiquities Act on February 19, 2015. The site will be centered along the Arkansas River between Buena Vista and Salida. Browns Canyon is the most popular destination for whitewater rafting in the country, and is also known for its fishing and hiking. The monument will provide habitat protection for bighorn sheep, peregrine falcons, elk, and golden eagles.
Columbine–Hondo Wilderness is a 44,698-acre (18,089 ha) Wilderness area located within the Carson National Forest in New Mexico. The area was added to the National Wilderness Preservation System on December 19, 2014 by Public Law 113-291. Located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, this area contains the headwaters to the Rio Hondo and Red River as well as three peaks which rise to or above timberline.
New Mexico Wilderness Act of 1980, Public Law 96-550, is a U.S. federal law that authorized the establishment of a number of designated Wilderness Areas on National Forest land in New Mexico. The law also added additional lands to four existing Wilderness Areas in New Mexico, and named several Forest areas for study as potential Wilderness Areas. The law also created two new National Park Service units, Chaco Culture National Historical Park and Salinas National Monument, from existing NPS lands. By means of this law approximately 400,000 acres of forest land were designated as Wilderness Areas, as described by the Wilderness Act of 1964, and approximately 75,000 additional acres were designated as Wilderness Study Areas for possible future inclusion in the Wilderness program.
Public Law 94-567 is a 1976 Federal law that established a number of new designated Wilderness Areas on National Park Service lands. Signed into law by President Gerald Ford on October 20, 1976, the new statute added almost 900,000 acres of wilderness into the National Wilderness Preservation System. While the majority of designated Wilderness Areas at the time were located in National Forests, this was one of the first laws to formally establish wilderness areas in National Parks and Monuments.
The John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act of 2019 is an omnibus lands act that protected public lands and modified management provisions. The bill designated more than 1,300,000 acres (5,300 km2) of wilderness area, expanded several national parks and other areas of the National Park System, and established four new national monuments while redesignating others. Other provisions included making the Land and Water Conservation Fund permanent, protecting a number of rivers and historic sites, and withdrawing land near Yellowstone National Park and North Cascades National Park from mining.
