Wilderness Act
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The Wilderness Act established the legal definition of wilderness in the United States as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." The act originally set aside 9.1 million acres of federal land as protected wilderness areas, which cannot contain any permanent or temporary roads, commercial enterprises, motorized equipment, or mechanical transport. In addition, the act established the National Wilderness Preservation System, a federal program designed for the preservation and protection of wilderness areas. The system is managed by four federal agencies—the U.S. National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Background
Howard Zahniser, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee and member of the Wilderness Society, drafted the first version of the Wilderness Act in 1956. The stated purpose of the legislation was to conserve some of the remaining wilderness areas in the United States that were not already federally protected. Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.) and Rep. John Saylor (R-Pa.) first introduced the legislation in 1956. A version of the Wilderness Act passed in the U.S. Senate in 1961, though the legislation faced opposition from Rep. Wayne Aspinall (D-Colo.), the chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee.[2][3][4][5]
| Wilderness Act | |
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| United States Congress | |
| Legislative history | |
| Introduced: | 1963 |
| House vote: | 374-1; July 30, 1964 |
| Senate vote: | 73-12; April 9, 1963 |
| President: | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Signed: | September 3, 1964 |
The Wilderness Society and other supporters backed the 1963 Senate version of the bill as written, though they concluded that the bill would not pass without revisions. These conservation groups discussed legislative revisions with industry groups in order to get the bill passed. Industry groups requested that grazing and prospecting continue in wilderness areas (grazing and prospecting in wilderness areas have since been prohibited). In exchange for these revisions, the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee permitted the legislation to go to the House floor for debate. The House voted for the bill by a vote of 374 to 1. The Senate previously passed the final bill in 1963 by a vote of 73 to 12. President Lyndon Johnson (D) signed the bill into law on September 3, 1964.[2][6]
In remarks delivered at the signing ceremony for the Wilderness Act, Johnson said the following:[7]
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This is a very happy and historic occasion for all who love the great American outdoors, and that, needless to say, includes me. The two bills that I am signing this morning are in the highest tradition of our heritage as conservators as well as users of America's bountiful natural endowments. The wilderness bill preserves for our posterity, for all time to come, 9 million acres of this vast continent in their original and unchanging beauty and wonder. The land and water conservation bill assures our growing population that we will begin, as of this day, to acquire on a pay-as-you-go basis the outdoor recreation lands that tomorrow's Americans will require.[8] |
” |
| —President Lyndon B. Johnson[7] | ||
Provisions
National Wilderness Preservation System
The Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System, a system of federally preserved wilderness areas. Four federal management agencies oversee wilderness areas—the U.S. National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The act prohibits certain activities in a wilderness area, such as mechanized and motorized vehicle use, timber harvesting, grazing, mining, and other kinds of development. In addition, the act allows Congress to designate, remove, or modify the status of wilderness areas based on the following criteria:[9][10]
- A wilderness area must be at least 5,000 acres or of sufficient size that the area can be preserved in an unimpaired condition. The area must also be under federal ownership and management.
- Areas must have an unnoticeable human presence. Specifically, the areas must not contain permanent structures such as roads or buildings as well as no permanent human habitation. Areas may have limited motorized access for preservation purposes, including for emergencies involving health and safety.
- Wilderness areas must have "ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value." Wilderness areas can be used for recreation consistent with this purpose. These recreational activities include hunting, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, camping, climbing, and nature study.
Wilderness areas
As of September 2015, the federal government managed 109.1 million acres of wilderness area. The table below summarizes the number of areas and acres of federal wilderness areas managed by the four federal agencies.
| National Wilderness Preservation System by agency | ||
|---|---|---|
| Agency | Areas | Federal acres |
| U.S. Bureau of Land Management | 224 | 8,760,478 |
| U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 71 | 19,862,488 |
| U.S. Forest Service | 445 | 36,574,689 |
| U.S. National Park Service | 61 | 43,932,002 |
| Total | 801 | 109,129,657 acres |
| Source: Wilderness.net, "National Wilderness Preservation System Summary Fact Sheet" | ||
The table below summarizes the federal wilderness areas designated by Congress from 1964—when the 88th Congress convened—to the 113th Congress in January 2014. Congress added the most wilderness acres—over 60 million acres—in the 96th Congress (1979-1981) when Democrats held Congress and Jimmy Carter (D) was president. [11]
Click the [show] button to see the full table.
| Additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congress | Number of laws | Number of states affected | Number of new wilderness areas | Additions to existing wilderness areas | Acres designated |
| 88th (1963-1965) | 1 | 13 | 54 | 0 | 9,125,721 |
| 89th Congress | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 90th Congress | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 792,750 |
| 91st Congress | 3 | 13 | 25 | 0 | 303,612 |
| 92nd Congress | 9 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 913,337 |
| 93rd Congress | 4 | 22 | 35 | 0 | 1,271,535 |
| 94th Congress | 8 | 23 | 35 | 0 | 2,428,327 |
| 95th Congress | 7 | 18 | 28 | 5 | 4,680,519 |
| 96th Congress | 7 | 10 | 71 | 11 | 60,753,605 |
| 97th Congress | 6 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 83,309 |
| 98th Congress | 21 | 21 | 177 | 49 | 8,530,657 |
| 99th Congress | 5 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 99,153 |
| 100th Congress | 7 | 8 | 22 | 4 | 1,422,730 |
| 101st Congress | 5 | 5 | 68 | 3 | 3,501,160 |
| 102nd Congress | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 426,290 |
| 103rd Congress | 2 | 2 | 79 | 14 | 8,272,871 |
| 104th Congress | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 29,970 |
| 105th Congress | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 160 |
| 106th Congress | 8 | 7 | 18 | 1 | 1,081,465 |
| 107th Congress | 5 | 5 | 18 | 13 | 529,590 |
| 108th Congress | 2 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 801,784 |
| 109th Congress | 6 | 7 | 25 | 11 | 1,030,748 |
| 110th Congress | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 106,000 |
| 111th Congress | 1 | 9 | 50 | 27 | 2,096,150 |
| 112th Congress (2014) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 113th Congress | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: Congressional Research Service, "Wilderness: Overview and Statistics" | |||||
Recent news
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ The Wilderness Society, "Wilderness Act," accessed October 21, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Smithsonian.com, "How the Wilderness Act Was Passed," accessed February 9, 2015
- ↑ PBS.org, "Wilderness Act Overview," accessed February 9, 2015
- ↑ Brigham Young University Law Review, "The Wilderness Act of 1964: Where We Do We Go From Here?" October 1, 1975
- ↑ Colorado Public Radio, "Wilderness Act: 50 Years Ago, Colorado Was At The Heart Of A Wild Fight," August 28, 2014
- ↑ Govtrack.us, "H.R. 9070. Establish a National Wilderness Preservation System. Passage," accessed February 16, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The American Presidency Project, "Remarks Upon Signing the Wilderness Bill and the Land and Water Conservation Fund Bill," accessed January 26, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "Wilderness Laws: Statutory Provisions and Prohibited and Permitted Uses," February 22, 2011
- ↑ Wilderness.net, "The Wilderness Act of 1964," accessed January 26, 2015
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "Wilderness: Overview and Statistics," January 9, 2014
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