ISSUE BRIEF: Stop Out-of-Control Wilderness Designations
Please preserve access to federal lands.
The Issue:
The 1964 Wilderness Act created the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Act gave Congress the ability to designate areas as wilderness. To date over 600 wilderness areas have been designated encompassing over 105 million acres. A wilderness designation effectively locks up land from any type of multiple use activities including: road construction, forestry, water storage and conveyance, energy development and recreational activities that require a motorized vehicle.
There is little argument that some areas in the United States warrant this most restrictive type of protection, but recently some members of Congress have begun trying to include lands that do not fit the definition of a wilderness area under the law. It has become all too typical for members from large metropolitan areas and Eastern states to attempt to win political points by proposing large swaths of wilderness in the West. These proposals rarely have the input or support of the impacted state or local communities. With nearly five percent of the nation's land already protected by wilderness designation, any new designation should be carefully reviewed, include local input and should have full support of the state where the land is located.
Impacts on the West:
When an area is designated as wilderness, the ability to use the land for multiple purposes is lost forever. This is a decision that should not be taken lightly and the designation process should have the support of the local communities and the impacted state's Congressional delegation.
Status of the Issue:
Democratic control of both bodies of Congress means wilderness will be a much more active topic in the 110th Congress. Rep. Nick Rahall, (D-WV) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), the incoming Chairmen of the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committees are both supporters of wilderness designations.
There are numerous wilderness designation bills introduced each session of Congress. Some irresponsible examples from recent years include:
H.R. 1204, introduced in the 109th Congress by Representative Shays of Connecticut, this legislation would designate over 15,000,000 acres of public land in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming as wilderness. The legislation was not supported by any members of Congress from Idaho, Wyoming or Montana and only four members from Washington and Oregon support the bill last Congress.
H.R. 1774/S. 882, the “America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act” would lock up millions of acres of land and would likely destroy the economy of rural Utah. In the 109th Congress these measures acquired 160 House and 14 Senate cosponsors. The vast majority of cosponsors were from eastern, non-public land states.
In the 110th Congress, the Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act, H.R. 39, is sponsored by Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN). No members of the Alaska delegation support this bill. The legislation would designate the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness thereby permanently eliminating access to the areas estimated 10 billion barrels of oil. In the 109th Congress these pieces of legislation received 123 respective cosponsors in the House and 23 in the Senate. Bills to allow drilling in the refuge have passed the House 10 times in previous Congressional sessions, but these measures have all been turned back by the Senate.
Solutions:
- Tell Congress to oppose H.R. 39, and similar wilderness designation legislation, unless there is support from the impacted state's delegation, local community input and support, and the area clearly has the characteristics of a wilderness area as defined by The 1964 Wilderness Act.
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