Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Act

Summary: Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Act Designates approximately 2,600,000 acres of National Wilderness Preservation System land in the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska as the &quot;Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area.&quot; 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) on July 21, 1922, Jay Sterner Hammond was born in Troy, 
        New York;
            (2) Hammond studied petroleum engineering at Penn State 
        University, where he was a member of the Triangle Fraternity;
            (3) Hammond later served as a Marine Corps fighter pilot, 
        serving--
                    (A) during World War II with the famous Black Sheep 
                Squadron in the South Pacific; and
                    (B) in China from 1945-1946;
            (4) after leaving military service, Hammond flew to Alaska, 
        where Hammond worked as a Bush pilot, trapper, guide, and 
        laborer;
            (5) a war-related illness caused Hammond to enroll at the 
        University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where Hammond earned his 
        degree in biological sciences in 1949;
            (6) after graduating from the University of Alaska, 
        Fairbanks, Hammond went to work as a biologist, field agent, 
        and hunter for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;
            (7) in 1950, Hammond was transferred to Southwest Alaska, 
        where Hammond--
                    (A) conducted predator and prey studies on the 
                caribou herd of the Alaska Peninsula; and
                    (B) conducted fisheries enforcement efforts out of 
                Dillingham as a pilot;
            (8) Hammond--
                    (A) was 1 of the first people to count 64 brown 
                bears at McNeil River in Southwest Alaska; and
                    (B) once recorded nearly 500,000 Black Brant geese 
                eclipsing the sun at Izembek Bay;
            (9) Hammond later cruised the entire shoreline of 45-mile-
        long Lake Clark counting wildlife and finding a future 
        homestead site on the shore of Lake Clark;
            (10) upon Alaska entering the Union in 1959, Hammond ran 
        and won election to the Alaska State House of Representatives;
            (11) Hammond served as an independent in the Alaska State 
        House of Representatives from 1959 to 1965;
            (12) in 1960, Hammond changed his party affiliation to 
        Republican;
            (13) after 3 terms in the Alaska State House of 
        Representatives, Hammond served as a State senator from 1967 to 
        1973;
            (14) from 1972 to 1974, Hammond served as mayor of the 
        Bristol Bay Borough;
            (15) during the 1960s and early 1970s, Hammond served as 
        the manager of Bristol Bay Borough during periods in which the 
        State legislature was not in session;
            (16) in 1974, Hammond was drafted by friends to run for 
        Governor of Alaska, defeating former Republican Walter J. 
        Hickel in the primary, and defeating the first Governor of the 
        State, Democrat William A. Egan, in the general election;
            (17) the 1974 campaign for Governor was dominated by--
                    (A) the opposition of Hammond to oil leasing in 
                Kachemak Bay;
                    (B) concern about State salmon fisheries and 
                environmental management; and
                    (C) fear about State overspending after the 
                discovery of oil on the North Slope;
            (18) Hammond--
                    (A) won the Republican primary for Governor in 1974 
                by 7,874 votes; and
                    (B) won the general election for Governor in 1974 
                by a mere 221 votes after 2 recounts;
            (19) in 1978, Hammond again defeated Walter J. Hickel in 
        the Republican primary by 98 votes, the closest margin in a 
        statewide election in the history of Alaska;
            (20) Hammond defeated Walter J. Hickel, a write-in 
        candidate, and Democrat Chancy Croft in the 1978 General 
        Election by 16,000 votes;
            (21) as Governor, Hammond--
                    (A) oversaw construction of the Trans-Alaska 
                Pipeline;
                    (B) championed the creation of the Alaska Permanent 
                Fund;
                    (C) authored the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend 
                program, which provides citizens of Alaska a yearly 
                dividend check from interest earnings of the State 
                share of petroleum revenues placed in the Alaska 
                Permanent Fund;
                    (D) won approval of a constitutional budget 
                reserve;
                    (E) opposed the repeal of the State income tax;
                    (F) championed agricultural development in Interior 
                Alaska; and
                    (G) oversaw the purchase of the Alaska Railroad by 
                the State;
            (22) with respect to environmental issues, Hammond--
                    (A) opposed construction of a proposed Ramparts 
                hydroelectric dam on the Yukon River;
                    (B) supported the congressional creation of a 200-
                mile fisheries zone off the coast of the State, which 
                improved State fishery stocks;
                    (C) oversaw the creation of a limited entry 
                fisheries regime in the State;
                    (D) oversaw the creation of the largest State park 
                in the United States, the Wood Tikchik State Park in 
                Southwest Alaska, which contains 1,600,000 acres of 
                wilderness; and
                    (E) in 1980, as Governor, oversaw the enactment of 
                the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 
                U.S.C. 3101 et seq.), which--
                            (i) dissolved the placement of 120,000,000 
                        acres of Alaska into protected status under 
                        chapter 3203 of title 54, United States Code;
                            (ii) designated 104,000,000 acres of land 
                        as units of the National Park System, units of 
                        the National Wildlife Refuge System, National 
                        Monuments, components of the National 
                        Wilderness Preservation System, and components 
                        of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System;
                            (iii) added 5,500,000 acres in 14 new units 
                        of the National Wilderness Preservation System;
                            (iv) added more than 40,000,000 acres in 10 
                        new units of the National Park System, 
                        including the 3,860,000-acre Lake Clark 
                        National Park and Preserve, bringing to 
                        54,000,000 acres the total size of National 
                        Park System holdings in the State;
                            (v) added a number of new units of the 
                        National Wildlife Refuge System in the State, 
                        bringing to 19 the number of units of the 
                        National Wildlife Refuge System covering 
                        76,800,000 acres in the State;
                            (vi) created 13 components of the National 
                        Wild and Scenic Rivers System running 3,131 
                        miles; and
                            (vii) resulted in Alaska containing 
                        57,900,000 acres of wilderness;
            (23) a talented and prolific writer and poet, Hammond--
                    (A) presented to the University of Alaska Library 
                Archives an impressive collection of speeches, 
                testimony, notebooks, and papers; and
                    (B) wrote several books on life in Alaska, 
                including his first book entitled ``Tales of Alaska's 
                Bush Rat Governor'';
            (24) Hammond died on August 2, 2005, at age 83, in his 
        sleep, at his homestead at Port Alsworth, Alaska, after having 
        survived--
                    (A) 5 plane crashes; and
                    (B) innumerable close calls with death, including 
                during--
                            (i) Hammond's first flight to Alaska and 
                        numerous subsequent flights during Hammond's 59 
                        years in the State; and
                            (ii) a fire at the homestead at Lake Clark;
            (25) Hammond was survived by--
                    (A) his wife, Bella; and
                    (B) his daughters, Heidi  and Dana, Dana, and 
                Wendy;
            (26) Hammond--
                    (A) was well-respected for reaching across the 
                aisle to forge bipartisan alliances; and
                    (B) enjoyed many close friendships--
                            (i) with colleagues in both political 
                        parties; and
                            (ii) members of his staff, who were deeply 
                        loyal to Hammond; and
            (27) the designation of the 2,600,000 acres of wilderness 
        in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, in which the 
        homestead of Hammond is located, would--
                    (A) honor Hammond; and
                    (B) be a fitting tribute to the honorable life and 
                legacy of Hammond, who was described by the Anchorage 
                Municipal Assembly on August 7, 2005, as ``the finest 
                example of a true public servant . . . there are few 
                men who have influence through their quiet articulation 
                of what is right and fair in the way of Jay Hammond''.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF JAY S. HAMMOND WILDERNESS AREA.

    (a) Designation.--The approximately 2,600,000 acres of National 
Wilderness Preservation System land located within the Lake Clark 
National Park and Preserve designated by section 201(e)(7)(a) of the 
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 
410hh(e)(7)(a)) shall be known and designated as the ``Jay S. Hammond 
Wilderness Area''.
    (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, 
paper, or other record of the United States to the wilderness area 
referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be a reference to the 
``Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area''.