3,125 Square Miles of New Parks, Trails, Scenic Rivers and Wilderness

Mount Hood, Oregon

Photo: National Scenic Byways

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The Senate is close to approving a big bill that will preserve more than 2 million acres of wilderness, affecting nearly every state in the U.S. The new protected lands would add up to more than 3,125 square miles — nearly the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

The bill — actually 160 bills rolled into one — had been blocked by filibuster and the threat of filibuster by a single senator, Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Coburn didn't make the League of Conservation Voters list of the "Dirty Dozen" lawmakers who had voted consistently against environmental protection, but he has a dismal voting record, having scored no better than 11%, by LCV's estimation, since 2005.

But the bill was approved for voting with a strong majority from both parties, so it looks like it will finally pass, despite Coburn's effort.

In addition to the wilderness designations, new national parks, trails and other preservation, the bill authorizes spending for watershed protection, studies of ocean acidification and other marine research, and a number of land conveyances. It's a giant bill. (And while the South Park National Heritage Area shares the name and state of the Comedy Central cartoon, it's designed to help preserve "19 working ranches along 30 miles of stream corridor and 17,000 acres of wetlands and agricultural lands in the headwaters of the South Platte River," according to one account.)

Here's a list of some of the lands that will be protected:

Additions to the National Wilderness System

• Wild Monongahela Wilderness, West Virginia
• Virginia Ridge and Valley Wilderness, Virginia
• Mt. Hood Wilderness, Oregon
• Copper Salmon Wilderness, Oregon
• Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Oregon
• Owyhee Public Land Management, Idaho
• Sabinoso Wilderness, New Mexico
• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Wilderness
• Oregon Badlands Wilderness
• Spring Basin Wilderness, Oregon
• Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wilderness, California
• Riverside County Wilderness, California
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Wilderness, California
• Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, Colorado
• Washington County, Utah

Additions to the National Landscape Conservation System

• Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, New Mexico
• Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area, New Mexico
• Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area
• Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, Colorado
• Rio Puerco Watershed Management Program, Nevada

Additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System

• Fossil Creek, Arizona
• Snake River Headwaters, Wyoming
• Taunton River, Massachusetts

Additions to the National Trails System

• Arizona National Scenic Trail, Arizona
• New England National Scenic Trail, Massachusetts and Connecticut
• Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon
• Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail, from Rhode Island to Virginia
• Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, Montana and Washington
• Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, Oklahoma

Additions to the National Park System

• Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park, New Jersey
• William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site, Arkansas
• River Raising National Battlefield Park, Michigan

New National Heritage Areas

• Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, Colorado
• Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area, Colorado
• South Park National Heritage Area, Colorado
• Northern Plains National Heritage Area, North Dakota
• Baltimore National Heritage Area, Maryland
• Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, Massachusetts and New Hampshire
• Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area
• Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area
• Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, Alabama
• Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area, Alaska

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