He won the protection of 100 million acres of Alaskan wilderness, although that protection has recently come under attack. And he helped pass the Tongass Timber Reform Act which prevents logging and road building in a one million acre area of Alaska and prohibits federal subsidies to pulp mills in the region. Udall's work on the passage of the Arizona Wilderness Act of 194 and the Arizona Desert Wilderness Act of 1990 helped protect over three million acres in Arizona. Each of these acts are vital to preserving our natural heritage. This protection is also vital to our economic well-being.
Every industry depends on materials from nature.
If our wilderness areas are completely urbanized or converted entirely to agriculture there will be nothing left for industry to utilize. This can be seen quite clearly in the fishing and timber industries where overharvesting has caused major economic declines in some areas. If these areas were instead preserved and managed in a sustainable way, these difficulties could have been avoided. In addition to his work on wilderness preservation, Udall has been involved with strip mining legislation which I would certainly consider among his greatest achievements. Several years ago I participated in a summer program in environmental science and the instructors took us to visit a coal spoil which is basically just several big mounds of shale and other stone particles that were dug out of the ground when coal was mined nearby.