Obama signs big land conservation bill into law

President Obama, only in the third month of his tenure, has signed into law one of the largest land conservation bills in U.S. history.

The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which includes the largest expansion of the National Wilderness Preservation System in at least 15 years and creates a new category of protected Bureau of Land Management lands, had bipartisan support.

Among the controversial aspects of the mammoth new law is a provision allowing a road to be constructed across Alaska's Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

The Washington Post has the story.