A bill to designate the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Custer and Gallatin National Forests, in the State of Montana.
PL 95-249 (S.1671), enacted 03/27/1978

92 STAT. 162 
PUBLIC LAW 95-249—MAR. 27, 1978 
Public Law 95-249 
95th Congress 
An Act 
Mar. 27, 1978 
[S. 1671] 
Absaroka-
Beartooth 
Wilderness, 
Mont. 
Designation. 
16 u s e 1132 
note. 
16 u s e 1132. 
Map and 
description, 
filing with 
congressional 
committees. 
Administration. 
To designate the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Custer and Gallatin National 
Forests, in the State of Montana. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in accordance 
with section 3(b) of the Wilderness Act (78 Stat. 890), the area 
classified as the Beartooth and Absaroka Primitive Areas, with the 
proposed additions thereto and deletions therefrom, as generally 
depicted on a map entitled "Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness", dated 
February 1978, which is on file and available for public inspection in 
the office of the Chief, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, is 
hereby designated as the "Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness", within 
and as part of the Custer and Gallatin National Forests, comprising 
an area of approximately nine hundred and four thousand five 
hundred acres. 
SEC. 2. As soon as practicable after this Act takes effect, the Secre-
tary of Agriculture shall file a map and legal description of the 
Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness with the Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee of the Senate and the Interior and Insular 
Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, and such descrip-
tion shall have the same force and effect as if included in this Act: Pro-
vided, however, That correction of clerical and typographical errors 
in such legal description and map may be made. 
SEC. 3. The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness shall be administered 
by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with the provisions of 
the Wilderness Act governing areas designated by that Act as wilder-
ness areas, except that any reference in such provisions to the effective 
date of the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the 
effective date of this Act. 
SEC. 4. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting in any 
manner or to any extent any claim by Park County, Montana, and 
Sweet Grass County, Montana, to a right-of-way from Cooke City, 
Montana, to Boulder, or to affect in any manner or to any extent the 
relative rights and liabilities between the parties in connection with 
Cause numbered 76-125-BLG, Park County, Montana, and Sweet 
Grass County, Montana, versus United States of America, et al., filed 
in the United States District Court for the District of Montana, Bil-
lings Division, on October 4, 1976. Nothing in this Act shall be con-
strued as abating such cause or as amending or otherwise affecting or 
modifying the provision of law pursuant to which such cause was filed. 
SEC. 5. The previous classification of the Beartooth and Absaroka 
Primitive Areas is hereby abolished. 
Approved March 27, 1978. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY; 
HOUSE REPORT No. 95-927 (eomm. on Interior and Insular Affairs). 
SENATE REPORT No. 95-624 (eomm. on Energy and Natural Resources). 
eONGRESSIONAL REeORD, Vol. 124 (1978): 
Feb. 10, considered and passed Senate. 
Mar. 14, considered and passed House. 
WEEKLY eOMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 14, No. 13: 
Mar. 27, Presidential statement.