16 U.S.C. § 460mmm — Findings and purpose

(a) Findings: Congress finds that certain areas in the Grand Valley — in Mesa County, Colorado, and Grand County, Utah — should be protected and improved for people now and in the future. These include: (1) the Black Ridge and Ruby Canyons of the Grand Valley, and Rabbit Valley, which have unique scenery, recreation, multiple-use opportunities (including grazing), fossils, natural features, and wildlife, are heavily used for hiking, camping, and grazing, and deserve added protection as a national conservation area; and (2) the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness Study Area, which has wilderness value and unique geology, fossils, science, and recreation resources. (b) Purpose: This subchapter's purpose is to conserve, protect, and improve — for people now and in the future — the unique, nationally important geological, cultural, fossil, natural, scientific, recreational, environmental, biological, wilderness, educational, and scenic resources of the public land described in section 460mmm–2(b). It does this by creating the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area and the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness, in both Colorado and Utah.