The Wilderness Act
Public
Law 88-577
88th Congress, S. 4
September 3, 1964
AN ACT
To establish a National Wilderness Preservation System for the permanent
good of the whole people, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SHORT TITLE
Section 1. This Act may be cited as the "Wilderness Act".
WILDERNESS SYSTEM ESTABLISHED STATEMENT OF POLICY
Sec. 2. (a) In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied
by expanding 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 secure 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 Wilderness Preservation System to be composed of federally owned
areas designated by Congress as "wilderness areas", and these
shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people
in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment
as wilderness; and no Federal lands shall be designated as "wilderness
areas" except as provided for in this Act or by a subsequent Act.
(b) 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 administration 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 administering areas solely because they are
included within the National Wilderness Preservation System.
DEFINITION OF WILDERNESS
(c) 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 Act an area of undeveloped Federal
land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent
improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as
to preserve its natural conditions and which (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.
NATIONAL WILDERNESS PRESERVATION SYSTEM -- EXTENT
OF SYSTEM
Sec. 3. (a) All areas within the national forests classified at least
30 days before the effective date of this Act by the Secretary of Agriculture
or the Chief of the Forest Service as "wilderness", "wild",
or "canoe" are hereby designated as wilderness areas. The Secretary
of Agriculture shall --
(1) Within one year after the effective date of
this Act, file a map and legal description of each wilderness area with
the Interior and Insular Affairs Committees of the United States Senate
and the House of Representatives, and such descriptions shall have the
same force and effect as if included in this Act: Provided, however, That
correction 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 pertaining
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) The Secretary of Agriculture shall, within ten years after the enactment
of this Act, review, as to its suitability or nonsuitability for preservation
as wilderness, each area in the national forests classified on the effective
date of this Act by the Secretary of Agriculture or the Chief of the Forest
Service as "primitive" and report his findings to the President.
The President shall advise the United States Senate and House of Representatives
of his recommendations with respect to the designation as "wilderness"
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 the enactment of this
Act, not less than two-thirds within seven years after the enactment of
this Act, and the remaining areas within ten years after the enactment
of this Act. 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 the effective date of this Act
shall continue to be administered under the rules and regulations affecting
such areas on the effective date of this Act until Congress has determined
otherwise. Any such area may be increased in size by the President at
the time he submits his recommendation 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 proposed 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 recommending the addition of any contiguous area
of national forest lands predominantly of wilderness value. Not withstanding
any other provisions of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture may complete
his review 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) Within ten years after the effective date
of this Act the Secretary of the Interior shall review every roadless
area of five thousand contiguous acres or more in the national parks,
monuments and other units of the national park system and every such area
of, and every roadless island within, the national wildlife refuges and
game ranges, under his jurisdiction on the effective date of this Act
and shall report to the President his recommendation as to the suitability
or nonsuitability of each such area or island for preservation as wilderness.
The President shall advise the President of the Senate and the Speaker
of the House of Representatives of his recommendation with respect to
the designation as wilderness of each such area or island on which review
has been completed, together with a map thereof and a definition of its
boundaries. Such advice shall be given with respect to not less than one-third
of the areas and islands to be reviewed under this subsection within three
years after enactment of this Act, not less than two-thirds within seven
years of enactment of this Act, and the remainder within ten years of
enactment of this Act. A recommendation of the President for designation
as wilderness shall become effective only if so provided by an Act of
Congress. Nothing contained herein shall, by implication or otherwise,
be construed to lessen the present statutory authority of the Secretary
of the Interior with respect to the maintenance of roadless areas within
units of the national park system.
(d) (1) The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary
of the Interior shall, prior to submitting any recommendations to the
President with respect to the suitability of any area for preservation
as wilderness --
(A) give such public notice of the proposed action as they deem appropriate,
including publication in the Federal Register and in a newspaper having
general circulation in the area or areas in the vicinity of the affected
land;
(B) hold a public hearing or hearings at a location
or locations convenient to the area affected. The hearings shall be announced
through such means as the respective Secretaries involved deem appropriate,
including notices in the Federal Register and in newspapers of general
circulation in the area: Provided, That if the lands involved are located
in more than one State, at least one hearing shall be held in each State
in which a portion of the land lies;
(C) at least thirty days before the date of a
hearing advise the Governor of each State and the governing board of each
county, or in Alaska the borough, in which the lands are located, and
Federal departments and agencies concerned, and invite such officials
and Federal agencies to submit their views on the proposed action at the
hearing or by not later than thirty days following the date of the hearing.
(2) Any views submitted to the appropriate Secretary
under the provisions of (1) of this subsection with respect to any area
shall be included with any recommendations to the President and to Congress
with respect to such area.
(e) Any modification or adjustment of boundaries of any wilderness area
shall be recommended by the appropriate Secretary after public notice
of such proposal and public hearing or hearings as provided on subsection
(d) of this section. The proposed modification or adjustment shall then
be recommended with map and description thereof to the President. The
President shall advise the United States Senate and the House of Representatives
of his recommendations with respect to such modification or adjustment
and such recommendations shall become effective only on the same manner
as provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of this section.
USE OF WILDERNESS AREAS
Sec. 4. (a) The purposes of this Act are hereby declared to be within
and supplemental to the purposes for which national forests and units
of the national park and national wildlife refuge systems are established
and administered and --
(1) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to be
in interference with the purpose for which national forests are established
as set forth in the Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11), and the Multiple
Use Sustained-Yield Act of June 12, 1960 (74 Stat. 215).
(2) Nothing in this Act shall modify the restrictions
and provisions of the Shipstead-Nolan Act (Public Law 539, Seventy-first
Congress, July 10, 1930; 46 Stat. 1020),the Thye-Blatnik Act (Public Law
733, Eightieth Congress, June 22, 1948; 62 Stat. 568), and the Humphrey-Thye-Blatnik-Andersen
Act (Public Law 607, Eighty-fourth Congress, June 22.1965; 70 Stat. 326),
as applying to the Superior National Forest or the regulations of the
Secretary of Agriculture.
(3) Nothing in this Act shall modify the statutory
authority under which units of the national park system are created. Further,
the designation of any area of any park, monument, or other unit of the
national park system as a wilderness area pursuant to this Act shall in
no manner lower the standards evolved for the use and preservation of
such park, monument, or other unit of the national park system in accordance
with the Act of August 25, 1916, the statutory authority under which the
area was created, or any other Act of Congress which might pertain to
or affect such area, including, but not limited to, the Act of June 8,
1906 (34 Stat. 225; 16 U.S.C. 432 et seq.); section 3(2) of the Federal
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796 (2) ); and the Act of August 21,1935 (49 Stat.
666; 16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, each agency administering
any area designated as wilderness shall be responsible for preserving
the wilderness character of the area and shall so administer such area
for such other purposes for which it may have been established as also
to preserve its wilderness character. Except as otherwise provided in
this Act, wilderness areas shall be devoted to the public purposes of
recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical
use.
PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN USES
(c) Except as specifically provided for in this
Act, and subject to existing private rights, there shall be no commercial
enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated
by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for
the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act (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.
SPECIAL PROVISIONS
(d) The following special provisions are hereby
made:
(1) Within wilderness areas designated by this Act the use of aircraft
or motorboats, where these uses have already become established, may be
permitted to continue subject to such restrictions as the Secretary of
Agriculture deems desirable. In addition, such measures may be taken as
may be necessary in the control of fire, insects, and diseases, subject
to such conditions as the Secretary deems desirable.
(2) Nothing in this Act shall prevent within national
forest wilderness areas any activity, including prospecting, 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. Furthermore, in accordance with such program as the Secretary
of the Interior shall develop and conduct in consultation with the Secretary
of Agriculture, such areas shall be surveyed on a planned, recurring basis
consistent with the concept of wilderness preservation by the Geological
Survey and the Bureau of Mines to determine the mineral values, if any,
that may be present; and the results of such surveys shall be made available
to the public and submitted to the President and Congress.
(3) Not withstanding any other provisions of this
Act, until midnight December 31, 1983, the United States mining laws and
all laws pertaining to mineral leasing shall, to the extent as applicable
prior to the effective date of this Act, extend to those national forest
lands designated by this Act as "wilderness areas"; subject,
however, to such reasonable regulations governing ingress and egress as
may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture consistent with the
use of the land for mineral location and development and exploration,
drilling, and production, and use of land for transmission lines, waterlines,
telephone lines, or facilities necessary in exploring, drilling, producing,
mining, and processing operations, including where essential the use of
mechanized ground or air equipment and restoration as near as practicable
of the surface of the land disturbed in performing prospecting, location,
and , in oil and gas leasing, discovery work, exploration, drilling, and
production, as soon as they have served their purpose. Mining locations
lying within the boundaries of said wilderness areas shall be held and
used solely for mining or processing operations and uses reasonably incident
thereto; and hereafter, subject to valid existing rights, all patents
issued under the mining laws of the United States affecting national forest
lands designated by this Act as wilderness areas shall convey title to
the mineral deposits within the claim, together with the right to cut
and use so much of the mature timber therefrom as may be needed in the
extraction, removal, and beneficiation of the mineral deposits, if needed
timber is not otherwise reasonably available, and if the timber is cut
under sound principles of forest management as defined by the national
forest rules and regulations, but each such patent shall reserve to the
United States all title in or to the surface of the lands and products
thereof, and no use of the surface of the claim or the resources therefrom
not reasonably required for carrying on mining or prospecting shall be
allowed except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act: Provided,
That, unless hereafter specifically authorized, no patent within wilderness
areas designated by this Act shall issue after December 31, 1983, except
for the valid claims existing on or before December 31, 1983. Mining claims
located after the effective date of this Act within the boundaries of
wilderness areas designated by this Act shall create no rights in excess
of those rights which may be patented under the provisions of this subsection.
Mineral leases, permits, and licenses covering lands within national forest
wilderness areas designated by this Act shall contain such reasonable
stipulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture for
the protection of the wilderness character of the land consistent with
the use of the land for the purposes for which they are leased, permitted,
or licensed. Subject to valid rights then existing, effective January
1,1984, the minerals in lands designated by this Act as wilderness areas
are withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the mining laws and
from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral leasing and all
amendments thereto.
(4) Within wilderness areas in the national forests
designated by this Act, (1) the President may, within a specific area
and in accordance with such regulations as he may deem desirable, authorize
prospecting for water resources, the establishment and maintenance of
reservoirs, water-conservation works, power projects, transmission lines,
and other facilities needed in the public interest, including the road
construction and maintenance essential to development and use thereof,
upon his determination that such use or uses in the specific area will
better serve the interests of the United States and the people thereof
than will its denial; and (2) the grazing of livestock, where established
prior to the effective date of this Act, shall be permitted to continue
subject to such reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary by the
Secretary of Agriculture.
(5) Other provisions of this Act to the contrary
notwithstanding, the management of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, formerly
designated as the Superior, Little Indian Sioux, and Caribou Roadless
Areas, in the Superior National Forest, Minnesota, shall be in accordance
with the general purpose of maintaining, without unnecessary restrictions
on other uses, including that of timber, the primitive character of the
area, particularly in the vicinity of lakes, streams, and portages: Provided,
That nothing in this Act shall preclude the continuance within the area
of any already established use of motorboats.
(6) Commercial services may be performed within
the wilderness areas designated by this Act to the extent necessary for
activities which are proper for realizing the recreational or other wilderness
purposes of the areas.
(7) Nothing in this Act shall constitute an express
or implied claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government as to
exemption from State water laws.
(8) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as
affecting the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with
respect to wildlife and fish in the national forests.
STATE AND PRIVATE LANDS WITHIN WILDERNESS AREAS
Sec. 5. (a) In any case where State-owned of privately owned land is completely
surrounded by national forest lands within areas designated by this Act
as wilderness, such State or private owner shall be given such rights
as may be necessary to assure adequate access to such State-owned or privately
owned land by such State or private owner and their successors in interest,
or the State-owned land or privately owned land shall be exchanged for
federally owned land in the same State of approximately equal value under
authorities available to the Secretary of Agriculture: Provided, however,
That the United States shall not transfer to a state or private owner
any mineral interests unless the State or private owner relinquishes or
causes to be relinquished to the United States the mineral interest in
the surrounded land.
(b) In any case where valid mining claims or other valid occupancies are
wholly within a designated national forest wilderness area, the Secretary
of Agriculture shall, by reasonable regulations consistent with the preservation
of the area as wilderness, permit ingress and egress to such surrounded
areas by means which have been or are being customarily enjoyed with respect
to other such areas similarly situated.
(c) Subject to the appropriation of funds by Congress,
the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to acquire privately owned
land within the perimeter of any area designated by this Act as wilderness
if (1) the owner concurs in such acquisition or (2) the acquisition is
specifically authorized by Congress.
GIFTS, BEQUESTS, AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Sec. 6. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture may accept gifts or bequests
of land within wilderness areas designated by this Act for preservation
as wilderness. The Secretary of Agriculture may also accept gifts or bequests
of land adjacent to wilderness areas designated by this Act for preservation
as wilderness if he has given sixty days advance notice thereof to the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Land accepted by the Secretary of Agriculture under this section shall
become part of the wilderness area involved. Regulations with regard to
any such land may be in accordance with such agreements, consistent with
the policy of this Act, as are made at the time of such gift, or such
conditions, consistent with such policy, as may be included in, and accepted
with, such bequest.
(b) The Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior is authorized
to accept private contributions and gifts to be used to further the purpose
of this Act.
ANNUAL REPORTS
Sec. 7. At the opening of each session of Congress, the Secretaries of
Agriculture and Interior shall jointly report to the President for transmission
to Congress on the status of the wilderness system, including a list and
descriptions of the areas in the system, regulations in effect, and other
pertinent information, together with any recommendations they may care
to make.
Approved September 3, 1964.
_____________________
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
House of Representatives Reports
No. 1538 accompanying H.R. 9070 (Comm. on Interior & Insular Affairs)
No. 1829 (Comm. of Conference)
Senate Report
No. 109 (Comm. on Interior & Insular Affairs)
Congressional Record
Vol. 109 (1963): Apr. 4, 8, considered in Senate.
Apr. 9, considered and passed Senate.
Vol. 110 (1964): July 28, considered in House
July 30, considered and passed House, amended, in lieu of H. R. 9070
Aug. 20, House and Senate agreed to conference report