In Celebration of a Quarter Century of the Wilderness Act
by Ernie Dickerman
1989
On September 3, 1964, the Wilderness Act was signed into law by (then) President Johnson. It had been before the Congress since 1956, during which time innumerable hearings were held, numerous different bills were introduced, and twice the Senate, but not the House, passed a wilderness bill.
The first sentence of the Act is worth reading slowly and reflecting upon. Quote: "In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness."
This statement plus the entire Act are extraordinary for it is considered to be the first time in the history of western civilization that any government officially determined to protect wilderness for its own sake, for its untamed natural values, not to be disturbed by the works of man. Consistent with this intention, the definition of wilderness in the Act contains such phrases as: "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man...generally appears to be affected primarily by the forces of nature...has ourstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation...may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value." A short, unofficial definiton says wilderness is an area that is "wild, roadless and free of the works of man." Still shorter, the intent of the Act is to keep it like it is. (If you are wondering what the word untrammeled in the official definition means, a trammel is a hobble, as a device to restrict the ability of a horse to walk or run; hence, "untrammeled" here means not restricted, not interfered with by man.)
Strange as it may seem to most of us today, the Forest Service originated the practice of wilderness preservation on the nation's public lands when in 1924 by administrative action it set aside the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico. Under the inspiration of Aldo Leopold (author of Sand County Almanac) and Robert Marshall (founder of The Wilderness Sociey), then employees of the Forest Service, wilderness was expanded to 14,000,000 acres of national forest. But after these two men left the Service in the early 1930's, expansion virtually ceased; indeed, after WWII, the agency began to withdraw acreage from wilderness under pressure from commercial interests.
From the middle 1930's, when The Wilderness Society was founded, the expectation was to persuade the principal federal land agencies to protect wilderness by administratively initiating or expanding their own wilderness systems. But by about 1950 or so it had become apparent that this method of gaining wilderness preservation was not going to work and that an appropriate law by Congress would be required. So in 1956 the first bills to establish a wilderness system applicable to all suitable federally owned lands were introduced in Congress.
The Wilderness Act of 1964 was the final product; it established the National Wilderness Preservation System, gave guidelines on how areas shall be managed, and provided for the addition of areas to the System.
The Act has never been amended, Congress having steadfastly refused to do so. Persistent attempts have been made by mining interests to relax the prohibitions on mining. In the wake of the big wildfires of 1988, some people now want the Act amended to require all wildfires in statutory wilderness be promptly extinguished (under the Act the agency having jurisdiction may control fire as it deems necessary). Initiated by Mr. Reagan's Department of the Interior, some western livestock grazers and municipal water districts are trying to deprive Wildernesses of the natural flow of water! So far, all such destructive efforts have been resisted. But they don't go away.
How big is the Wilderness System today, 25 years later? Initially nine million acres of the Forest Service's administrative wilderness were placed in the new System by the Act, with provision for adding the remaining five million acres later by a complex process. Today the System totals 90,760,106 acres, scattered from Maine to California, plus Hawaii and Alaska, all lying in national forests, parks, wildlife refuges, and Bureau of Land Management lands. Some other figures:
a) Alaska has by far the largest acreage of any state, thanks to the great Alaska Lands Act of 1980, with 56,484,686 acres--leaving 34,275,420 acres in all other states.
b) By the 1964 Act just three small areas were in the east: Great Gulf in New Hampshire, and Linville Gorge and Shining Rock in North Carolina, all on national forests. No new areas on national forests were established in the east until 1975 when 16 areas totaling 206,988 acres in 13 states were added. The Forest Service had long insisted that no new areas in the east could qualify because of evidence of man's past works (old logging roads, fences, cabins, clearings, not to mention past logging). But Congress in 1975, agreeing with forceful citizen opinion, said this evidence was "substantially unnoticeable" and rejected the agency's purity argument; since which time numerous national forest areas in the east have been added.
c) Virginia gained its first Wilderness in the 1975 Act, the James River Face-- plus four Wilderness Study Areas. In 1976, 79,579 acres of Shenandoah National Park were given the protection of the Wilderness Act. Now with the national forest areas gained in 1984 and 1988, a total of 169,453 acres in Virginia are in the Wilderness System, of which 89,874 are on national forests. None are yet on national wildlife refuges in Virginia.
That we have a genuine National Wilderness Preservation System is a splendid tribute to the sensitivity and culture of American society. Overriding short term commercial concerns and recognizing the continuing material, scientific, and spiritual benefits of the wilderness resource, we continue to increase Congress after Congress the untamed, natural lands and water protected under the Wilderness Act. Few pieces of legislation during 200 years of the American Congress have been more popular and enthusiastically supported than the Wilderness Act. A quarter of a century after its enactment, Americans continue to work unceasingly to protect more unspoiled wildland-- with our most notable current goal being the 1.5 million acres of the coastal plain of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Forward!
1989
On September 3, 1964, the Wilderness Act was signed into law by (then) President Johnson. It had been before the Congress since 1956, during which time innumerable hearings were held, numerous different bills were introduced, and twice the Senate, but not the House, passed a wilderness bill.
The first sentence of the Act is worth reading slowly and reflecting upon. Quote: "In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness."
This statement plus the entire Act are extraordinary for it is considered to be the first time in the history of western civilization that any government officially determined to protect wilderness for its own sake, for its untamed natural values, not to be disturbed by the works of man. Consistent with this intention, the definition of wilderness in the Act contains such phrases as: "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man...generally appears to be affected primarily by the forces of nature...has ourstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation...may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value." A short, unofficial definiton says wilderness is an area that is "wild, roadless and free of the works of man." Still shorter, the intent of the Act is to keep it like it is. (If you are wondering what the word untrammeled in the official definition means, a trammel is a hobble, as a device to restrict the ability of a horse to walk or run; hence, "untrammeled" here means not restricted, not interfered with by man.)
Strange as it may seem to most of us today, the Forest Service originated the practice of wilderness preservation on the nation's public lands when in 1924 by administrative action it set aside the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico. Under the inspiration of Aldo Leopold (author of Sand County Almanac) and Robert Marshall (founder of The Wilderness Sociey), then employees of the Forest Service, wilderness was expanded to 14,000,000 acres of national forest. But after these two men left the Service in the early 1930's, expansion virtually ceased; indeed, after WWII, the agency began to withdraw acreage from wilderness under pressure from commercial interests.
From the middle 1930's, when The Wilderness Society was founded, the expectation was to persuade the principal federal land agencies to protect wilderness by administratively initiating or expanding their own wilderness systems. But by about 1950 or so it had become apparent that this method of gaining wilderness preservation was not going to work and that an appropriate law by Congress would be required. So in 1956 the first bills to establish a wilderness system applicable to all suitable federally owned lands were introduced in Congress.
The Wilderness Act of 1964 was the final product; it established the National Wilderness Preservation System, gave guidelines on how areas shall be managed, and provided for the addition of areas to the System.
The Act has never been amended, Congress having steadfastly refused to do so. Persistent attempts have been made by mining interests to relax the prohibitions on mining. In the wake of the big wildfires of 1988, some people now want the Act amended to require all wildfires in statutory wilderness be promptly extinguished (under the Act the agency having jurisdiction may control fire as it deems necessary). Initiated by Mr. Reagan's Department of the Interior, some western livestock grazers and municipal water districts are trying to deprive Wildernesses of the natural flow of water! So far, all such destructive efforts have been resisted. But they don't go away.
How big is the Wilderness System today, 25 years later? Initially nine million acres of the Forest Service's administrative wilderness were placed in the new System by the Act, with provision for adding the remaining five million acres later by a complex process. Today the System totals 90,760,106 acres, scattered from Maine to California, plus Hawaii and Alaska, all lying in national forests, parks, wildlife refuges, and Bureau of Land Management lands. Some other figures:
a) Alaska has by far the largest acreage of any state, thanks to the great Alaska Lands Act of 1980, with 56,484,686 acres--leaving 34,275,420 acres in all other states.
b) By the 1964 Act just three small areas were in the east: Great Gulf in New Hampshire, and Linville Gorge and Shining Rock in North Carolina, all on national forests. No new areas on national forests were established in the east until 1975 when 16 areas totaling 206,988 acres in 13 states were added. The Forest Service had long insisted that no new areas in the east could qualify because of evidence of man's past works (old logging roads, fences, cabins, clearings, not to mention past logging). But Congress in 1975, agreeing with forceful citizen opinion, said this evidence was "substantially unnoticeable" and rejected the agency's purity argument; since which time numerous national forest areas in the east have been added.
c) Virginia gained its first Wilderness in the 1975 Act, the James River Face-- plus four Wilderness Study Areas. In 1976, 79,579 acres of Shenandoah National Park were given the protection of the Wilderness Act. Now with the national forest areas gained in 1984 and 1988, a total of 169,453 acres in Virginia are in the Wilderness System, of which 89,874 are on national forests. None are yet on national wildlife refuges in Virginia.
That we have a genuine National Wilderness Preservation System is a splendid tribute to the sensitivity and culture of American society. Overriding short term commercial concerns and recognizing the continuing material, scientific, and spiritual benefits of the wilderness resource, we continue to increase Congress after Congress the untamed, natural lands and water protected under the Wilderness Act. Few pieces of legislation during 200 years of the American Congress have been more popular and enthusiastically supported than the Wilderness Act. A quarter of a century after its enactment, Americans continue to work unceasingly to protect more unspoiled wildland-- with our most notable current goal being the 1.5 million acres of the coastal plain of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Forward!