Nation IN BRIEF : NATIONWIDE : Historic Wildlife Agreement Signed

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the private Nature Conservancy signed a historic agreement in Tucson, Ariz., to combine their efforts to preserve wildlife and its habitat for future generations. The agreement formalizes a public-private national partnership to save endangered and rare animals and plants on 40% of the country’s public lands, encompassing 270 million acres. BLM director Cy Jamison said he has no qualms, and sees no conflicts, about a private organization helping set government policy on land acquisition, “as long as it comes from the ground up.”