On Tuesday, Congress approved a bill that would protect 32,500 acres of Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

According to The Washington Post, this is the first wilderness bill—sponsored by Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Mich.) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.)—that has been approved since 2009. It is expected that President Obama will sign the bill.

Sleeping Bear Dunes is located on the northwest coast of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and spans across Leelanau County and Benzie County. The park includes 35 miles of Lake Michigan’s eastern coastline, as well as North and South Manitou Islands. In 2011, the area was named “The Most Beautiful Place in America,” by Good Morning America.

The Obama administration has plans to preserve two more wilderness areas by executive action—the approximately 500,000-acre Organ Mountains/Desert Peaks area in New Mexico along with 1,600 acres known as the Point Arena/Stornetta Public Lands on California’s central coast.

The Post reported that according to Benishek’s office, the bill “ensures that natural features of the area will be preserved.”

Image from CarolSpears on Wikimedia Commons