The measure, a package of more than 160 bills, would set aside about two million acres (809,400 hectares) – parks, rivers, streams, desert, forest and trails – in nine states as new wilderness and render them off limits to oil and gas drilling and other development.

The House of Representatives approved the measure on a vote of 285-140 a week after it cleared the Senate, capping years of wrangling and procedural roadblocks.

It now goes to President Barack Obama to sign into law, which he is expected to do swiftly.

“I can’t think of a single bill that has ever done more to ensure the enjoyment of, and access to, wilderness areas (and) historic sites,” said Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Opponents, most of them Republican, complained the legislation would deny access for oil and gas drilling and said House Democrats refused to consider changes.

The two million acres that would be designated as new wilderness are mostly in California, followed by Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, New Mexico and Michigan.

Separately, the legislation would permanently protect and restore a 26-million-acre (10.5-million-hectare) system composed of the U. S. Bureau of Land Management’s most historic and scenic lands and waters, including the Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado and Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas.

Environmental and historic groups praised the legislation.

“Future generations will look back at this day as a major milestone in our nation’s conservation history,” said William Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society.

“It has been a long and difficult road, but today, Congress acted on behalf of hunters and anglers who understand the need for intact habitat,” said Tom Reed of Trout Unlimited.

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Some of the president’s fellow top Democrats also are upset with certain provisions – including ones dealing with farm subsidies, tax deductions and industrial emissions.

Opposition from Democrats and Republicans is likely to grab headlines again in the weeks ahead as committees get down to complete their work in drafting details.

Democrats, who expanded their hold on Congress in the November election that brought Obama to power, are proving to be a contentious bunch.

“Democrats also have more moderate and more conservatives in their ranks and more issues that will divide them,” said Andrew Taylor, a political science professor at North Carolina State University. “It’s the cost of doing business.”

The budget proposal Obama put forward last month outlines a bold governing agenda, which includes expanding health care, upgrading education, moving the U. S. toward energy independence and combating global warming.

It projects a deficit for this fiscal year of $1.75 trillion, falling to $1.17 trillion next year.

Democrats in agricultural states object to Obama’s call to end direct-payment subsidies to large farmers, which he said could save $1 billion per year.

“It’s more than dead on arrival,” said House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat.

“I would be opposed to any effort to cut support of the farm safety net,” said Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota.

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