The Wilderness Act 1964

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The Wilderness Act(1964)

• If future generations are to remember us with
  gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave
  them more than the miracles of technology. We
  must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was
  in the beginning, not just after we got through
  with it. Lyndon B. Johnson, when signing the Act

As presented by Jimmy Daruwala and Fran Raycroft
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Brief History

• Drafted by Howard Zahinser in 1956, director of
  the Wilderness Society
• Introduced by Sen. Hubert Humphrey
• Act took 8 years to design and went through 66
  drafts
• Signed by LBJ on September 3, 1964
• 9.1 million acres
• Review by Secretary of Agriculture
• In 1976, BLM areas were established, totaling 623
  million acres

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Purposes

• 1. To define wilderness
• 2. Maintain untrammeled land for future
  generations
• 3. Provide specific guidelines to land
  management
• Shifted authority from land management agencies
  to Congress

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(No Transcript)
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The Specifics

• To establish a National Wilderness Preservation
  System for the permanent good of the whole
  people, and for other purposes.
• Pretty vague
• Sec.2a
• Addressing concerns Increasing population,
  expanding settlement, growing mechanization
• Sec.2b
• Jurisdiction
• Sec.2c
• Definition of Wilderness 4 points
• Sec.3
• Duties of the Secretary of Agriculture
  President Congress
• Sec.4
• Wilderness area usage

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• Special Provisions
• Aircraft, motorboats
• fire, insects, diseases
• Mining areas within wilderness
• Mining development drilling, phone lines, etc.
• Presidential Authority
• Water resources, reservoirs, power projects,
  public interest facilities, including road
  construction(LOOP HOLE!!!)
• Livestock grazing
• Commercial recreation
• State water law and wildlife compliance
• Sec.5a
• State and privately held lands within wilderness
  area
• Sec.5c
• Sec. Agriculture acquisition of land

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• Sec.6a,b
• Land gifts
• Sec.7
• Annual report by Sec of Agriculture Interior

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Implications

• Wilderness areas
• Fisheries and other commerce
• Biotic influences
• Commercial Usage

Wilderness areas will be devoted to the public
purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific,
educational, conservational, and historical use.
(sec 4, b)
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Cases in Point

• Wilderness Society vs US Fish Wildlife Service
• Kenai Refuge
• Sierra Club vs Lyng
• Southern pine beetle
• Minnesota vs Block
• Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness

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Future Insights

• Bush Removal of 250 million acres mostly
  located in Alaska. REJECTED! By Congress
• Increasing population and industry problems
  -pollution
• Land availability / allocation garbage dumps.
• Resource demands mining, oil

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Sources

• Wilderness Act of 1964, Public Law 88-577, 78
  Stat. 890
• 16 U.S.C 1131-1136 (http//www.friends-bwca.
  org/aboutus/1964.html)
• California Wilderness Coalition protection our
  wild lands
• (http//www.calwild.org/resources/facts_64wa.php)
  
• Wilderness Act (http//www.wilderness.org/OurIssue
  s/Wilderness/act.cfm?)
• Mitchell, John. Untamed Lands at the End of the
  Road. National Wildlife.
• Oct/Nov 2004, Vol. 42, Issue 6
  (http//web26.epnet.com)
• Wilderness Society Alaska Center for the
  Environment v. US Fish Wildlife Service. (US
  Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, No.01-35266)
• Wilderness Act of 1964, Relevant Cases.
  (http//walter.arizona.edu/society/policy/wa/wa5.a
  sp)