Thus enforcing his commitment to the environment, today President Barack Obama has signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act that sets aside more than 2 million acres that protects land from California’s Sierra Nevada mountains to the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. The bill also expands wilderness protection efforts.

The law represents one of the largest expansions of wilderness protection in twenty-five years. Today, as Obama signed the bill, he commented that the most valuable things in life are those already possessed and that this legislation protects the land, lakes and shorelines for future generation.

“Our lands have always provided great bounty,” Obama said as he signed. “What these gifts require in return is our wise stewardship.”