(a) In general
In order to provide for the immediate and future protection of the lands in Federal ownership within the framework of a program of multiple use and sustained yield and for the maintenance of environmental quality, the Steese National Conservation Area is hereby established.

(b) Boundaries; special values
The Steese National Conservation Area shall include approximately one million two hundred twenty thousand acres of public lands, as generally depicted on the map entitled "Steese National Conservation Area—proposed", and dated October 1978. Special values to be considered in planning and management of the area are: caribou range and Birch Creek.