Good Things Come in Large Packages!
Next week—perhaps Wednesday, Feb. 24—there will be a full House vote on the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act (H.R. 803)—a package that combines all the bills that passed the House last year in their version of the NDAA that were stripped out by the Senate.
H.R. 803 protects about 1.49 million acres of public land as wilderness and incorporates more than 1,000 river miles into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
The bill also withdraws more than 1.2 million acres of public land from new oil and gas and mining claims, including iconic landscapes like the Grand Canyon and Colorado’s Thompson Divide.
With the new Congress, there is strong optimism this vital legislative package will be passed by the House and then the Senate, protecting lands that Broads and others have sought to safeguard for years.
However, a strong show of support from the public is critical to carrying this forward.
The Act includes:
Arizona bill:
Protects the greater Grand Canyon region from new mining claims
California Wilderness bills:
H.R. 693 - San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act
H.R. 878 - Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, & Working Forests Act
H.R. 973 - Central Coast Heritage Protection Act
H.R. 1075 - Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act, Rep. Schiff (D-CA)
Colorado bills:
H.R. 803 - Colorado Wilderness Act (original bill #)
H.R. 577 - Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act
Washington bill:
H.R. 999 - Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
Call your House Representatives TODAY and ask them to vote YES on H.R. 803, the Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act!
