Mississippi National Forest Wilderness Act of 1984
PL 98-515 (S.2808), enacted 10/19/1984

98 STAT. 2420 
PUBLIC LAW 98-515—OCT. 19, 1984 
Public Law 98-515 
98th Congress 
Oct. 19, 1984 
[S. 2808] 
Mississippi 
National Forest 
Wilderness Act 
of 1984. 
National 
Wilderness 
Preservation 
System. 
National Forest 
System. 
16 use 
1132 note. 
16 use 
1132 note. 
An Act 
To designate certain National Forest System lands in the State of Mississippi as 
wilderness, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may 
be cited as the "Mississippi National Forest Wilderness Act of 1984". 
DESIGNATION OF WILDERNESS AREAS 
SEC. 2. In furtherance of the purposes of the Wilderness Act (16 
U.S.C. 1131-1136), the following lands in the State of Mississippi are 
hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore, as components of 
the National Wilderness Preservation System: 
(1) certain lands in the De Soto National Forest, Mississippi, 
which comprise approximately four thousand five hundred and 
sixty acres, as generally depicted on a map entitled "Proposed 
Black Creek Wilderness", dated January 1979, and which shall 
be known as the Black Creek Wilderness; and 
(2) certain lands in the De Soto National Forest, Mississippi, 
which comprise approximately nine hundred and forty acres, as 
generally depicted on a map entitled "Proposed Leaf Wilder-
ness", dated January 1979, and which shall be known as the 
Leaf Wilderness. 
Public 
availability. 
MAPS AND DESCRIPTIONS 
SEC. 3. As soon as practicable after enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Agriculture shall file a map and a legal description of 
each wilderness area designated by this Act with the Committee on 
Interior and Insular Affairs and the Committee on Agriculture of 
the United States House of Representatives and with the Committee 
on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the United States Senate. 
Each such map and description shall have the same force and effect 
as if included in this Act, except that correction of clerical and 
typographical errors in each such map and description may be made 
by the Secretary. Each such map and description shall be on file and 
available for public inspection in the Office of the Chief of the Forest 
Service, Department of Agriculture. 
16 use 
1131 note. 
ADMINISTRATION OF WILDERNESS 
SEC. 4. Subject to valid existing rights, each wilderness area 
designated by this Act shall be administered by the Secretary of 
Agriculture in accordance with the provisions of the Wilderness Act 
governing areas designated by that Act as wilderness, except that 
any reference in such provisions to the effective date of the Wilder-
ness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the date of enactment 
of this Act. 
PUBLIC LAW 98-515—OCT. 19, 1984 
STAT. 2421 
EFFECT OF RARE II 
SEC. 5. (a) The Congress finds that— 
(1) the Department of Agriculture has completed the second 
roadless area review and evaluation program (RARE II); and 
(2) the Congress has made its own review and examination of 
National Forest System roadless areas in the State of Missis-
sippi, and of the environmental impacts associated with alterna-
tive allocations of such areas. 
(b) On the basis of such review, the Congress hereby determines 
and directs that— 
(1) without passing on the question of the legal and factual 
sufficiency of the RARE II final environmental statement 
(dated January 1979) with respect to National Forest System 
lands in States other than Mississippi, such statement shall not 
be subject to judicial review with respect to National Forest 
System lands in the State of Mississippi; 
(2) with respect to the National Forest System lands in the 
State of Mississippi which were reviewed by the Department of 
Agriculture in the second roadless area review and evaluation 
(RARE II) and those lands referred to in subsection (d), that 
review and evaluation or reference shall be deemed for the 
purposes of the initial land management plans required for such 
lands by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Plan-
ning Act of 1974, as amended by the National Forest Manage-
ment Act of 1976, to be an adequate consideration of the 
suitability of such lands for inclusion in the National Wilder-
ness Preservation System and the Department of Agriculture 
shall not be required to review the wilderness option prior to 
the revisions of the plans, but shall review the wilderness option 
when the plans are revised, which revisions will ordinarily 
occur on a ten-year cycle, or at least every fifteen years, unless, 
prior to such time, the Secretary of Agriculture finds that 
conditions in a unit have significantly changed; 
(3) areas in the State of Mississippi reviewed in such final 
environmental statement or referenced in subsection (d) and not 
designated wilderness upon enactment of this Act shall be 
managed for multiple use in accordance with land management 
plans pursuant to section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland Renew-
able Resources Planning Act of 1974, as amended by the 
National Forest Management Act of 1976: Provided, That such 
areas need not be managed for the purpose of protecting their 
suitability for wilderness designation prior to or during revision 
of the initial land management plans; 
(4) in the event that revised land management plans in the 
State of Mississippi are implemented pursuant to section 6 of 
' 
the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 
of 1974, as amended by the National Forest Management Act of 
1976, and other applicable law, areas not recommended for 
wilderness designation need not be managed for the purpose of 
protecting their suitability for wilderness designation prior to or 
during revision of such plans, and areas recommended for 
wilderness designation shall be managed for the purpose of 
protecting their suitability for wilderness designation as may be 
required by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources 
Planning Act of 1974, as amended by the National Forest 
Management Act of 1976, and other applicable law; and 
Conservation. 
Congress. 
16 use 
1600 note. 
16 u s e 1604. 
16 u s e 1604. 
16 use 
1600 note. 
98 STAT. 2422 
PUBLIC LAW 98-515—OCT. 19, 1984 
Prohibition. 
(5) unless expressly authorized by Congress, the Department 
of Agriculture shall not conduct any further statewide roadless 
area review and evaluation of National Forest System lands in 
the State of Mississippi for the purpose of determining their 
suitability for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preserva-
tion System. 
(c) As used in this section, and as provided in section 6 of the 
Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, 
16 use 1604. 
as amended by the National Forest Management Act of 1976, the 
term "revision" shall not include an "amendment" to a plan. 
(d) The provisions of this section shall also apply to— 
(1) those National Forest System roadless lands which were 
evaluated in the Delta unit plan dated February 1976; and 
(2) National Forest System roadless lands in the State of 
Mississippi which are less than five thousand acres in size. 
Approved October 19, 1984. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 2808: 
SENATE REPORT No. 98-613 (Comm. on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 130 (1984): 
Oct. 2, considered and passed Senate. 
Oct. 4, considered and passed House.