They Voted for You: Wilderness

U.S. Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., helped pass the "Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009."

The 73-21 vote advances legislation "to set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protected wilderness and allow Alaska to build an airport access road through a wildlife refuge," The Associated Press reports.

The Charleston Gazette reported earlier that the huge package of public land protections in the bill include "a broad expansion of wilderness areas in the Monongahela National Forest."

One Republican opponent called the measure "a land-grab that would lock up acreage that could be used for future development such as oil and gas drilling," the AP article said.