Mostafa Heddaya and Anna Kats are reporting for Artinfo that Michael Heizer’s City—an expansive earth art piece in rural Nevada that evokes both ancient monuments and postindustrial landscapes—is set to be protected as part of 704,000 acres of Nevada desert, thanks to a proclamation being signed by President Obama under the Antiquities Act of 1906.

As Heddaya and Kats note, “The move follows decades of formal and informal lobbying on behalf of Michael Heizer’s City.” Legislative attempts to protect the land were shut down in the House and Senate earlier this year. But a widely circulated petition asking for executive intervention apparently saved the day; it was reportedly instrumental in convincing Obama to act.

Heizer’s piece is still under construction and not yet open to the public.