Wilderness Act of 1964

Introduction

The Wilderness Act of 1964 is an environmental law that protects pristine natural lands in the United States. The act contains specific guidelines for setting aside and protecting undeveloped federal land. The Wilderness Act sets aside designated wilderness areas for recreational or scientific use or use as wildlife habitats. Wilderness areas may not be used for timber, grazing, mining, or other destructive purposes. Today, the National Wilderness Preservation System comprises over 100 million acres of federal land.

Historical Background and Scientific Foundations

When European settlers first moved into the area that would become the present-day United States, they encountered over 2 billion acres of relatively pristine wilderness. Settlers destroyed huge swathes of untouched land as they pushed west in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to tame the American frontier.

The completion of the transcontinental continental railroad in 1869 connected the West Coast with the East Coast and allowed more Americans to explore, and exploit, the wilderness. With the rise of the automobile in the mid-twentieth century, Americans could travel anywhere in the United States in a matter of days, not months. Companies could also exploit America’s vast natural resources and move goods to distant markets quickly and cheaply.

The stress that America’s westward expansion placed on the wilderness had become apparent by the mid-nineteenth century. By the 1860s, conservationist called for a halt to the destruction of pristine ecosystems and irresponsible exploitation of natural resources. The efforts of these early conservationists led President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) to sign a bill to protect Yosemite Valley for the enjoyment of all Americans. In 1890, Congress passed the Yosemite Reserves Act, which created Yosemite National Park.

In 1897, Congress passed the Organic Act, which established a procedure to set aside federal forest reserves that could not be logged. Although the ostensible purpose of the Organic Act was to ensure future timber supplies, the act was the first comprehensive plan to set aside large tracts of federal land. In 1916, Congress passed the National Park Service Organic Act, which established the National Park Service. Many of the lands that had been set aside under the Organic Act fell under the protection of the newly formed National Park Service. The primary responsibility of the National Park Service was to conserve the natural scenery and wildlife for Americans to enjoy.

Despite nearly a century of conservation efforts, the United States regressed in forest conservation with the passage of the Multiple Use, Sustained Yield Act (MUSY) of 1960. The United States experienced a major period of economic growth following World War II (1939–1945), greatly increasing the demand for timber. Other interests, including recreational opportunities and grazing land for large Western farms, also competed for use of national forests. In MUSY, Congress mandated that the National Forest Service balance the following interests: timber, recreation, grazing, watershed, and wildlife habitats. MUSY stated that a national forest could not be set aside exclusively for one use.

In response to the continued depletion of the American wilderness, Congress passed the Wilderness Act of 1964, after eight years of negotiations and 66 revisions. President Lyndon Johnson (1908–1973) signed the bill into law on September 3, 1964. The Wilderness Act states a legal definition of “wilderness” and provides strong legal protection to any area designated a wilderness area. Under the Wilderness Act, a designated wilderness area may not be used for timber, mining, grazing, or any other activity that would harm its pristine condition. The act also bans all motorized vehicles from designated wilderness areas.

The Wilderness Act contains a famous poetic definition of wilderness written by Howard Zahniser: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized 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 continues with a more specific definition for a wilderness area. Such lands must be at least 5,000 acres, have little noticeable alteration by humans, provide solitude, and may contain “ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.”

Under the terms of the Wilderness Act, only Congress has the authority to designate a wilderness area. Congress sets specific boundaries for each wilderness area in statutory law. A separate act of Congress is required to remove a wilderness area from the list of designated wilderness areas.

The Wilderness Act did not place any new land under federal control. The act merely provided protection for some federal lands already under the control of the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). When passed in 1964, the Wilderness Act designated 9.1 million acres of land controlled by these agencies as wilderness areas. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 also permitted the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to recommend land held by the BLM for designation as a wilderness area. Every designated wilderness area falls under the control of the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS).

Impacts and Issues

The total acreage of designated wilderness areas in the United States has increased tremendously since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. The act directed the secretary of the interior to examine every parcel of land in the National Park System and National Wildlife Refuge. The act directed the secretary of agriculture to do the same with all lands held in the National Forest System. Within ten years, the secretaries of the interior and agriculture were to recommend to the president land that could be included in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

At the request of federal agencies or conservation groups, Congress considers several proposals every year to add new land to the Wilderness System. When the Wilderness Act became law in 1964, the Wilderness System comprised 9.1 million acres of land. Today, the Wilderness System comprises over 107 million acres in over 700 separate wilderness areas. The National

WORDS TO KNOW

CONSERVATION: The act of using natural resources in a way that ensures that they will be available to future generations.

ECOSYSTEM: The community of individuals and the physical components of the environment in a certain area.

WATERSHED: The expanse of terrain from which water flows into a wetland, water body, or stream.

Wilderness Preservation System contains wilderness areas in 44 states and Puerto Rico. Wilderness areas are open for recreational use, and millions of Americans visit wilderness areas every year.

In addition to providing scenic and recreational opportunities, wilderness areas possess great ecological value. Most wilderness areas contain thousands of acres. The largest wilderness complex, Noatak and Gates of the Arctic Wildernesses in Alaska, contains over 12 million acres. Such large, contiguous areas of land allow local ecosystems to develop undisturbed by human interference. Many wilderness areas also protect watersheds, thereby preserving the water supply upon which humans and other animals rely.

See Also Conservation; National Park Service Organic Act; Natural Reserves and Parks

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Web Sites

National Wilderness Preservation System. “Wilderness Fast Facts.” http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=fastFacts (accessed April 22, 2008).

National Wilderness Preservation System. “Wilderness Legislation: Overview.” http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=legisoverview (accessed April 22, 2008).

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. “The Idea of Wilderness: Timeline.” http://wilderness.nps.gov/idea.cfm (accessed April 22, 2008).

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Digest of Federal Resource Laws of nterest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Wilderness Act.” http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/wildrns.html (accessed April 22, 2008)

Joseph P. Hyder