Opinion ID: 615771
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overview of Wilderness Act

Text: Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1964, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1131-36, for the purpose of secur[ing] for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. Id. § 1131(a). The Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System, which was to be composed of federally owned areas designated by Congress as `wilderness areas.' Id. Congress immediately designated certain areas as wilderness areas in the Act. See id. § 1132(a) (All areas within the national forests classified ... by the Secretary of Agriculture or the Chief of the Forest Service as `wilderness', `wild', or `canoe' are hereby designated as wilderness areas.). The Wilderness Act also established a process by which NFS lands could be designated as wilderness areas in the future. Id. § 1132(b). Under this process for designating wilderness in the future, the Secretary of Agriculture determines which NFS lands are suitable for preservation as wilderness and reports those findings to the President, who then submits recommendations to Congress as to which NFS lands should be regulated as wilderness areas under the Act. Id. Such lands actually become wilderness areas protected by the provisions of the Wilderness Act only if Congress enacts legislation to that effect. Id. Indeed, Congress explicitly stated that no Federal lands shall be designated as `wilderness areas' except as provided for in [the Wilderness Act] or by a subsequent Act. Id. § 1131(a). The Act defines wilderness as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain, as well as an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation. Id. § 1131(c). Congress further defined wilderness as an area that (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value. Id. Areas designated as wilderness areas by Congress under the Act must be maintained so as to preserv[e] the wilderness character of the area and shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use, unless an exception applies. Id. § 1133(b). In order to preserve the character of areas designated by Congress as wilderness, the Act prohibits a wide array of uses within such areas: [T]here shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this chapter and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this chapter (including measures required in emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within the area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area. Id. § 1133(c). The Act includes seven special provisions, which serve as exceptions to the general use prohibitions found in § 1133(c). See id. § 1133(d)(1)-(7). These special provisions allow, among other things, for (1) measures ... [for] control of fire, insects, and diseases, subject to such conditions as the Secretary deems desirable; (2) prospecting and activities carried out for the purpose of gathering information about mineral or other resources, if such activity is carried on in a manner compatible with the preservation of the wilderness environment; (3) certain development of water resources, if approved by the President; (4) grazing of livestock, but only if established before September 1964; and (5) [c]ommercial services ... to the extent necessary for activities which are proper for realizing the recreational or other wilderness purposes of the areas. Id. § 1133(d)(1), (2), (4), & (5). [12] Lastly, the Wilderness Act establishes that its provisions are declared to be within and supplemental to the purposes for which national forests ... are established and administered, id. § 1133(a), and therefore Congress made clear that [n]othing in [the Wilderness Act] shall be deemed to be in interference with the purpose for which national forests are established as set forth in the [Organic Act] (30 Stat. 11), and [MUSYA] (74 Stat. 215). Id. § 1133(a)(1).