Kentucky Wilderness Act of 1985
PL 99-197 (H.R.1627), enacted 12/23/1985

PUBLIC LAW 99-197—DEC. 23, 1985 
99 STAT. 1351 
Public Law 99-197 
99th Congress 
An Act 
To designate certain national forest system lands in the State of Kentucky for 
inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, to release other forest 
lands for multiple use management, 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 "Kentucky Wilderness Act of 1985". 
SEC. 2. In furtherance of the purposes of the Wilderness Act of 
1964 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) certain National Forest System lands 
located within the Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky, which 
comprise approximately thirteen thousand three hundred acres as 
generally depicted on a map entitled "Clifty Wilderness—Proposed", 
dated January 1985, are hereby designated as wilderness, and shall 
be known as the Clifty Wilderness. 
SEC. 3. Subject to valid existing rights, the Clifty Wilderness shall 
be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture as a component of 
the National Wilderness Preservation System 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 Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a 
reference to the effective date of this Act. 
SEC. 4. (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 Kentucky 
and of the environmental impacts associated with alternative 
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 Kentucky, such statement shall not 
be subject to judicial review with respect to National Forest 
System lands in the State of Kentucky; 
(2) with respect to the National Forest System lands in the 
State of Kentucky 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), except 
those lands remaining in further planning upon enactment of 
this Act, that review and evaluation or reference shall be 
deemed for the purposes of the initial land management plans 
required for such lands by Forest and Rangeland Renewable 
Resources Planning Act of 1974, as amended by the National 
Forest Management Act of 1976, to be an adequate consider-
ation of the suitability of such lands for inclusion in the Na-
tional Wilderness Preservation System and the Department of 
Dec. 23, 1985 
[H.R. 1627] 
Kentucky 
Wilderness Act 
of 1985. 
16 u s e 1132 
note. 
16 u s e 1131 
note. 
Conservation. 
Congress. 
16 u s e 1600 
note. 
16 u s e 1600 
note. 
99 STAT. 1352 
PUBLIC LAW 99-197—DEC. 23, 1985 
16 use 1604. 
16 use 1600 
note. 
16 use 1600 
note. 
16 use 1600 
note. 
16 use 1600 
note. 
Prohibition. 
Public 
availability. 
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 Kentucky reviewed in such final 
environmental statement or referenced in subsection (d) and not 
recommended for further planning as a result of the second 
roadless area review and evaluation program or designated as 
wilderness upon enactment of this Act shall be managed for 
multiple use in accordance with land management plans pursu-
ant to section 6 of the Forest Rangeland Renewable Resources 
Act of 1974, as amended by the National Forest Planning Act of 
1976: Provided, That such areas need not be managed for the 
purpose of protecting their suitability for wilderness designa-
tion prior to or during revision of the initial land management 
plans; 
(4) in the event that revised land management plans in the 
State of Kentucky 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 wilderniess 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 
(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 Kentucky for the purposes 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, 
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 National 
Forest System roadless lands in the State of Kentucky which are 
less than five thousand acres in size. 
SEC. 5, As soon as practicable after enactment of this Act, the map 
and a legal description of the Clifty Wilderness shall be filed with 
the Committees on Agriculture and Interior and Insular Affairs of 
the House of Representatives and the Committees on Energy and 
Natural Resources and Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the 
Senate, and such map and legal description shall have the same 
force and effect as if included in this Act: Provided, however, That 
PUBLIC LAW 99-197—DEC. 23, 1985 
99 STAT. 1353 
corrections of clerical and typographical errors in such legal descrip-
tion and map may be made. 
Approved December 23, 1985. 
€,A^ 
to ic: 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 1627: 
HOUSE REPORT No. 99-411, Pt. I (Comm. on Interior and Insular Affairs). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 131 (1985): 
Dec. 9, considered and passed House. 
Dec. 12, considered and passed Senate.