Opinion ID: 3051488
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Secretaries’ Joint Guidelines

Text: Because of inconsistencies caused by the WSRA’s provision for administration by agencies under both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior, the President asked both Secretaries to jointly issue guidelines interpreting the WSRA. See National Wild and Scenic Rivers System; Final Revised Guidelines for Eligibility, Classification and Management of River Areas, 47 Fed. Reg. 39,454 (Sept. 7, 1982) (the “Secretarial Guidelines”). The Secretarial Guidelines interpret the management principles of § 1281(a) “as stating a nondegradation and enhancement policy for all designated river areas, regardless of classification.” Id. at 39,458. The Secretarial Guidelines further explain that the WSRA requires the administering agency to manage each component so as to protect and enhance its ORVs, “while providing for public recreation and resource uses which do not 3068 FRIENDS OF YOSEMITE v. KEMPTHORNE adversely impact or degrade those values.” Id. at 39,458-59. The Secretarial Guidelines also envision the use of varying strategies and implementations, depending on the segment’s classification and ownership. Id. at 39,459. Notably, the Secretarial Guidelines discuss “carrying capacity,” a term that does not appear in the WSRA itself1 and is defined as “[t]he quantity of recreation use which an area can sustain without adverse impact on the [ORVs] and freeflowing character of the river area, the quality of recreation experience, and public health and safety.” Id. at 39,455. The Secretarial Guidelines contemplate that [s]tudies will be made during preparation of the management plan and periodically thereafter to determine the quantity and mixture of recreation and other public use which can be permitted without adverse impact on the resource values of the river area. Management of the river area can then be planned accordingly. Id. at 39,459 (emphasis added). The Secretarial Guidelines also require that a component’s management plan state the kinds and amounts of public use which the river area can sustain without impact to the values for which it was designated[,] and specific management measures which will be used to implement the man- agement objectives for each of the various river segments and protect esthetic, scenic, historic, archeologic and scientific features. Id. at 39,458 (emphasis added). 1 Congress added the current § 1274(d) to the WSRA in 1986. See Pub. L. No. 99-590, § 501(b)(3), 110 Stat. 3330, 3335 (1986). Thus the Secretarial Guidelines’s use of “carrying capacity” predated the enactment of the “address . . . user capacities” language in § 1274(d). FRIENDS OF YOSEMITE v. KEMPTHORNE 3069