The House passed an eight-bill public lands package that would designates 1.5 million acres of Western federal land as wilderness and prohibits new mining near the Grand Canyon.
Lawmakers on Friday passed the Democratic-sponsored measure mostly along party lines on a vote of 227-200, with eight Republicans voting in favor. The package would expand and create new conservation and recreation areas in California, Colorado, and Washington, and add roughly 1,200 miles of rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. In all, more than 2.5 million acres of federal land would be designated as wilderness, conservation, or recreation areas....