Close your eyes and think about the American West.  What comes to mind?  Mountain ranges that go on forever, a limitless sky, raging rivers and starkly beautiful desert canyons and towers?  Choice locations for outdoor pursuits like climbing, paddling, skiing, hiking and mountain bike without crowds.
 
The Bureau of Land Management manages much of our western lands and rivers and the best of these BLM landscapes, from an ecosystem and human-powered recreation perspective, happen to be in the National Landscape Conservation System. The system includes classic multiday whitewater trips on rivers like the Rogue, Klamath, Owyhee, Crooked, Grande Ronde, Merced, Trinity, Tuolumne, Rio Grande, Fortymile and others.

On April 9, 2008 the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a simple, but important issue -- whether to make the Conservation System permanent.  Management of human-powered recreational resources in the Conservation System will remain untouched, but the Conservation System will finally get the recognition that it deserves.

Write to your Representative today to ensure that lands under the National Landscape Conservation System will be permanently protected! Ask them to vote for the National Landscape Conservation System Act - HR 2016. The House Vote is scheduled for this Wednesday, April 9!