Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt created the National Landscape Conservation System in June 2000 to recognize the "crown jewels" of public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The 26 million-acre system comprises over 800 individual units, including: the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana, and the Headwaters Forest Reserve in northern California. H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation System Act, provides permanent statutory recognition for a system that was created administratively eight years ago to "conserve, protect, and restore these nationally significant landscapes that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for the benefit of current and future generations."

During consideration of H.R. 2016, Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM) introduced an amendment that seeks to enshrine current grazing operations on units within the National Landscape Conservation System regardless of the damage being caused to the land.

On April 9, the House approved the amendment by a 214-207 vote (House roll call vote 172). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. On the same day, the House voted 278-140 to pass H.R. 2016 by a 278-140 vote (House roll call vote 174). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.