Lands Package Includes LWCF Funding, Blocks Gold Mine Near Yellowstone

In passing a sprawling omnibus public lands bill on Feb. 12, the U.S. Senate in a 92-8 vote reauthorized the Land and Water Conservation Fund in perpetuity and blocked a proposed gold mine on the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park.

The Senate vote sends the measure to the House.

It was the largest public lands bill in a decade, combining more than 100 separate bills into one, designating hundreds of miles of river as wild and scenic, creating thousands of miles of new trails and setting aside nearly 700,000 acres of land for new recreation and conservation.

For more than a half-century, perhaps no program has been more instrumental in protecting and conserving the nation’s public lands than the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which has funded more than 41,000 conservation and lands projects at the federal, state and local levels, furnishing protections on roughly 2.3 million acres of forests while enjoying bipartisan support from lawmakers.

Read more: https://flatheadbeacon.com/2019/02/16/lands-package-includes-lwcf-funding-blocks-gold-mine-near-yellowstone/