Wilderness Act

• Author: Environmental Law Reporter
• Pages: 1079-1082

Wilderness Act

16 U.S.C. §§1131-1136

§1131. [WA §2]

National Wilderness Preservation System

(a) Establishment; Congressional declaration of policy;

wilderness areas; administration for public use and enjoyment,

protection, preservation, and gathering and dissemination of

information; provisions for designation as wilderness areas

In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by ex-

panding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and

modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving

no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural

condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to se-

cure for the American people of present and future generations the

benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. For this purpose there

is hereby established a National WildernessPreservation System to be

composed of federally owned areas designated by Congress as “wil-

derness areas”, and these shall be administered for the use and enjoy-

ment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unim-

paired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and so as to provide

for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness

character, and for the gathering and dissemination of information re-

garding their use and enjoyment as wilderness; and no Federal lands

shall be designated as “wilderness areas” except as provided for in this

chapter or by a subsequent Act.

(b) Management of area included in System; appropriations

The inclusion of an area in the National Wilderness Preservation

System notwithstanding, the area shall continue to be managed by the

Department and agency having jurisdiction thereover immediately

before its inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System

unless otherwise provided by Act of Congress. No appropriation shall

be available for the payment of expenses or salaries for the administra-

tion of the National Wilderness Preservation System as a separate unit

nor shall any appropriations be available for additional personnel

stated as being required solely for the purpose of managing or admin-

istering areas solely because they are included within the National

Wilderness Preservation System.

(c) “Wilderness” defined

A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own

works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized 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. An area of wilderness is

further defined to mean in this chapter an area of underdeveloped Fed-

eral land retaining its primeval character and influence, without per-

manent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and

managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) gener-

ally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature,

with the imprint of man’swork substantially unnoticeable; (2) has out-

standing opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type

of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of suffi-

cient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unim-

paired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or

other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.

(Pub. L. 88-577, §2, Sept. 3, 1964, 78 Stat. 890.)

Short Title

Section 1 of Pub. L. 88-577 provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter] may

be cited as the ‘Wilderness Act’.”

§1132. [WA §3]

Extent of System

(a) Designation of wilderness areas; filing of maps and

descriptions with Congressional committees; correction of

errors; public records; availability of records in regional offices

All areas within the national forests classified at least 30 days be-

fore September 3, 1964 by the Secretary of Agriculture or the Chief of

the Forest Service as “wilderness”, “wild”, or “canoe” are hereby des-

ignated as wilderness areas. The Secretary of Agriculture shall—

(1) Within one year after September 3, 1964, file a map and legal

description of each wilderness area with the Interior and Insular Af-

fairs Committees of the United States Senate and the House of Rep-

resentatives, and such descriptions shall have the same force and ef-

fect as if included in this chapter: Provided, however, That correc-

tion of clerical and typographical errors in such legal descriptions

and maps may be made.

(2) Maintain, available to the public, records pertaining to said

wilderness areas, including maps and legal descriptions, copies of

regulations governing them, copies of public notices of, and reports

submitted to Congress regarding pending additions, eliminations,

or modifications. Maps, legal descriptions, and regulations pertain-

ing to wilderness areas within their respective jurisdictions also

shall be available to the public in the offices of regional foresters,

national forest supervisors, and forest rangers.

(b) Review by Secretary of Agriculture of classifications as

primitive areas; Presidential recommendations to Congress;

approval of Congress; size of primitive areas; Gore

Range-Eagles Nest Primitive Area, Colorado

The Secretary of Agriculture shall, within ten years after September

3, 1964, review, as to its suitability or nonsuitability for preservation

as wilderness, each area in the national forests classified on September

3, 1964 by the Secretary of Agriculture or the Chief of the Forest Serv-

ice as “primitive” and report his findings to the President. The Presi-

dent shall advise the United States Senate and House of Representa-

tives of his recommendations with respect to the designation as “wil-

derness” or other reclassification of each area on which review has

been completed, together with maps and a definition of boundaries.

Such advice shall be given with respect to not less than one-third of all

the areas now classified as “primitive” within three years after Sep-

tember 3, 1964, not less than two-thirds within seven years after Sep-

tember 3, 1964, and the remaining areas within ten years after Septem-

ber 3, 1964. Each recommendation of the President for designation as

“wilderness” shall become effective only if so provided by an Act of

Congress. Areas classified as “primitive” on September 3, 1964 shall

continue to be administered under the rules and regulations affecting

such areas on September 3, 1964 until Congress has determined other-

wise. Any such area may be increased in size by the President at the

time he submits his recommendations to the Congress by not more

than five thousand acres with no more than one thousand two hundred

and eighty acres of such increase in any one compact unit; if it is pro-

posed to increase the size of any such area by more than five thousand

acres or by more than one thousand two hundred and eighty acres in

any one compact unit the increase in size shall not become effective

until acted upon by Congress. Nothing herein contained shall limit the

President in proposing, as part of his recommendations to Congress,

the alteration of existing boundaries of primitive areas or recommend-

ing the addition of any contiguous area of national forest lands pre-

dominantly of wilderness value. Notwithstanding any other provi-

sions of this chapter,the Secretary of Agriculture may complete his re-

view and delete such area as may be necessary,but not to exceed seven

thousand acres, from the southern tip of the Gore Range-Eagles Nest

Primitive Area, Colorado, if the Secretary determines that such action

is in the public interest.

(c) Review by Secretary of the Interior of roadless areas of

national park system and national wildlife refuges and game

ranges and suitability of areas for preservation as wilderness;

authority of Secretary of the Interior to maintain roadless areas

in national park system unaffected

Within ten years after September 3, 1964 the Secretary of the Inte-

rior shall review every roadless area of five thousand contiguous acres

or more in the national parks, monuments and other units of the na-

tional park system and every such area of, and every roadless island

within the national wildlife refuges and game ranges, under his juris-

diction on September 3, 1964 and shall report to the President his rec-

ommendation as to the suitability or nonsuitability of each such area

WA§3 WILDERNESS ACT 16 U.S.C. §1132

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