On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a sweeping public lands package that protects over two million acres across the U.S. Every single state gained new protected areas, from slivers of land padding out already existing parks; to new national monuments designations; to vast expanses of new wilderness areas. Conservationists, hunters and anglers, historians, and local communities have been pushing for some of these designations for years, and the passage marks a remarkable cooperative affirmation of the value of public lands, says Lynn Scarlett, a government affairs expert at the Nature Conservancy.

Both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives have now approved the package. Up next is a signature from President Donald