The grizzly bear is a great example. The grizzly cannot tolerate a fragmented habitat. The result of this extraordinary Act speaks for itself. The nation's wilderness system includes 624 areas containing more than 104 million acres of breathtaking landscapes which are now protected in perpetuity for future generations. The preservation of these areas accounts for about four and a half percent of the U.S. landmass.
Wilderness areas are the most protected landscapes in the federal system.
These fabulous lands are managed for the use and enjoyment of the American people, large enough to be refuges for plants and animals. Moreover, they have become refuges for both wildlife and people. We give these areas a chance to survive by leaving them wild, untamed and unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness. There has been very little action to approve wilderness areas in the last two sessions of Congress. We have made almost no progress, but the protection of these gifts to each and all of us, are more crucial now than ever before in the history of this country.