Congress Protects Zero Lands for Future Generations

The U.S. House of Representatives this week missed yet another opportunity to conserve public lands for future generations, extending the longest streak of Congressional inaction on land conservation since World War II.

Instead of taking up any of the more than three dozen locally-supported land protection measures that have been introduced by Republicans and Democrats in Congress, the House took action to curtail environmental reviews on public lands, mandate logging quotas, and diminish safeguards for endangered species. Like its immediate predecessor, the current Congress has failed to protect a single new acre of public land as a park, monument, or wilderness.

“Local communities have been waiting years – and sometimes decades – for Congress to protect the lands that attract visitors, drive economic growth and provide a great quality of life,” said Greg Zimmerman, Policy Director at the Center for Western Priorities. “With the House standing in the way of the businesses, sportsmen, and Western communities that want new parks, wilderness, and wildlife refuges, it is all the more important that President Obama act to protect our public lands.”

Cutting funding and weakening protections for public lands is detrimental to rural economies and gateway communities, which benefit economically from proximity to public land. In addition to drawing tourists into nearby towns, protected lands are an attraction for businesses and talented employees. Over the last forty years, western non-metro counties with significant protected lands have created jobs more than four times faster than counties without significant protected acreage.

The House’s failure to take-up and pass land conservation bills is not for a lack of opportunity. There are 37 public land protection proposals introduced into the House by Democrats and Republicans during the current session, but not one has passed into law.

In the absence of congressional action, President Obama said in his State of the Union address that he will use his authorities to protect America’s most pristine lands.

“By stopping America’s conservation legacy dead in its tracks, the House this week is making President Obama’s case for him: Congress is broken and the President should act to protect public lands for future generations,” said Matt Lee-Ashley, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.”

Since 2009, 2.5 times more land has been leased for oil and gas drilling than has been permanently protected for hiking, hunting, fishing and camping. In 2013 alone, more than a million new acres were leased for oil and gas development, while approximately a quarter million acres were permanently protected.

Last March, the President began to help right this balance by permanently protecting over 250 thousand acres, including the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico and the San Juan Islands National Monument in Washington State.

For additional information on how the Obama Administration can restore balance to the management of public lands, click here.