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Legislation contains protections for national parks nationwide, including Zion in Utah

Salt Lake City -The nation’s leading voice for the national parks, the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) today praised the U.S. Congress for passing the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 (H.R.146), which included a number of bills important for the protection and interpretation of America’s National Park System, including Zion National Park in Utah.

“Thanks to the leadership of Senator Bennett, and broad local support, approximately 124,000 acres of Zion National Park will be protected as wilderness in perpetuity. We are also pleased that this bill provides opportunities to fund acquisition of privately-owned land within Zion that may be threatened with development—ensuring that this national treasure is preserved for our children and grandchildren,” said National Parks Conservation Association Southwest Regional Director David Nimkin.

The bill also provides additional protections for the Virgin River by designating approximately 165.5 miles of the river and its tributaries across federal lands as Wild and Scenic. “This bill provides extraordinary benefits for Washington County and all those who enjoy its natural wonders,” Nimkin added.

The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 contains other important bills that:
• Expand Minute Man National Historical Park in Massachusetts to protect the historically-significant farm of Colonel James Barrett, commander of the Middlesex Militia.
• Study the possible addition of the Green McAdoo School in Clinton, Tenn., to the park system. In 1956, 12 students from Green McAdoo became the first African-Americans to integrate a state-operated school.
• Establish a commemorative trail in upstate New York that connects local and state sites to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.
• Protect the cultural, ecological and scenic integrity of the Little River Canyon National Preserve in Alabama and Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas from adjacent development by adjusting the boundary.
• Offer wilderness protection to remarkable landscapes within Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park in California.
• Authorize the creation of the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail in the Pacific Northwest—the first national geologic trail in the National Park System.
• Designate the Amargosa River as Wild and Scenic, providing much-needed protection for water resources at Death Valley National Park in California.
• Protect our nation’s irreplaceable fossil record and ensure that fossils from public lands are available for educational and scientific research by codifying the existing practice of requiring that vertebrate fossils and other rare and scientifically-significant fossils be collected only by qualified researchers who obtain a permit. The bill toughens penalties on the illegal collection of fossils on federal lands, including national parks such as Badlands in South Dakota and Petrified Forest in Arizona.

“Bipartisan support in the Congress has ensured that many of our national parks will be enhanced and preserved for our children and grandchildren,” said NPCA President Tom Kiernan.

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