Yesterday, the Natural Resources Law Center and the Center of the American West sponsored a one-day conference on the 100 year-old Antiquities Act. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, the principal architect of the eighteen Antiquities Act proclamations issued by President Clinton, and a host of other distinguished speakers came to speak at the event.For 100 years, the Antiquities Act has been used by nearly every President to set aside and protect lands threatened with privatization and development. The list of lands first protected under the Antiquities Act - and that might never have been protected without it - is truly remarkable. Many of our most treasured national parks including the Grand Canyon, Olympic, Zion, Arches, Glacier Bay, and Acadia, began as national monuments. All told, Presidents have issued 123 proclamations setting aside millions of acres of land under the Antiquities Act. For a PDF brochure about the conference, click here.