40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act
September 2004
Prominent political figures make public comments commemorating
Wilderness and the Wilderness Act
Senator John McCain's Senate Speech
and Remarks by former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall
from Congressional Record: September 29, 2004 (Senate)] [Page S9927-S9930]
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, throughout our country's history there have been many debates in the Congress over the use, conservation, and protection of our natural resources. These debates have resulted in landmark policies, such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Homestead Act, and the establishment of the world's first national park, Yellowstone , in 1872.
Natural resource and environmental issues are inherently complex and often controversial, for they involve tradeoffs in which many diverse interests have a stake. There is one interest that cannot speak for itself and relies upon the vision of others; the interest of future generations. Teddy Roosevelt said it best, it seems to me, in his 1916 book, A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open, where he castigates those ``short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things''. He goes on to say, ``Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method.''
It is in this spirit of our moral obligation to the future--to those who, in Teddy Roosevelt's memorable phrase, are ``within the womb of time''--that I wish to salute the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964. I am pleased to lend my support to this bipartisan resolution honoring the milestone legislation preserving our Nation's rare and spectacular wild places.
Arizona has the good fortune to have numerous preserved wilderness areas, thanks to this law. In fact, more than 4,500,000 acres have been preserved in 90 wilderness areas. These range from the Cabeza Prieta Wilderness of more than 800,000 acres, to the 2,040 acre Baboquivari Peak Wilderness, an extraordinary area designated in 1990. From our desert expanses to the heights of 12,643-foot Humphrey's Peak, the highest point in Arizona, protected within the Kachina Peaks Wilderness, Arizona is not only one of America's fastest-growing states, but also a state in which we preserve and treasure our wilderness heritage.
In 1936, the great forester and wilderness champion, Bob Marshall, spoke of the luxury--a privilege--we Americans have. He commented that Americans can enjoy ``a twofold civilization--the mechanized, comfortable, easy civilization of twentieth-century modernity, and the peaceful timelessness of the wilderness where vast forests germinate and flourish and die and rot and grow again without any relationship to the ambitions and interferences of man.'' [[Page S9928]]
In spite of the environmental challenges that face our country and the world today, I am very grateful for the vision of past leaders that enacted this law to ensure that those who inhabit our nation many generations into the future will be able to experience wilderness in their lives, as we do today. As we celebrate the protection of existing and additional wilderness areas under this historic law, we follow our most noble and nonpartisan traditions of national resource conservation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the following statement of Stewart Udall, one of our Nation's conservation leaders and the Secretary of the Interior in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, presented at an event on September 19, 2004, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
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Remarks by Former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall - Wilderness Act:
Commemorative Dinner, Washington , DC , September 19 , 2004
I am honored and delighted to be here tonight with John Dingell and Gaylord Nelson and Bob Byrd. I was running for Congress 50 years ago right now, and I came in the door with John Dingell and Bob Byrd had been there two years, and they considered him a ``hick,''--he played the fiddle, he loved the folk music of his people and now he is the conscience of the Senate.
If you want to know why I say that, you will buy his book, ``Losing America,'' and find out what his message is. John Dingell, you were given too little credit tonight. The National Environmental Policy Act would probably not have been passed if it had not been for John Dingell. What you don't know is Wayne Aspinell thought it was a crazy idea, and John Dingell said ``if he doesn't want it, then I will pick it up.'' And he carried the mail through the House. So I want to say something--I'm on a ``lecture tour'' this evening. There was something about that time, and John Dingell and I discussed it--the 60s into the 70s was called a golden age of sorts. One of the things that comes to my mind as I go back there is the way you saw young Congressmen and Senators who were pretty raw in the beginning, but they had open minds and they grew and they developed new convictions and they developed new horizons. One example was John and Robert Kennedy--changing before your eyes. And John Dingell and Bob Byrd are examples of this, and my brother--yes, my brother. It did not take him long to enlarge his mind and encompass it. And that is a great gift--to be open minded and have the capacity to grow. It's a very great gift. And can we see members of congress now, too many of them that come in with fixed ideologies and fixed views, and they will stay for 10 or 25 years, and when they leave they have the very same views. They haven't changed a damn thing. It's pathetic.
So now a lot of it's been covered, and I only have time to hit a few high notes because I promised Mike Matz (executive director of the Campaign for America's Wilderness ) that I would give out of my faulty memory some of the highlights of the Wilderness bill. And this is an extraordinary story. The wilderness idea--it originated here in this country. The national park idea originated in this country --the idea of setting aside areas. And Bob Marshall, Aldo Leopold, and a little group came up with this, and it was thought to be a far-out and crazy idea, and it culminated with the introduction of the wilderness bill.
One person left out was Humphrey, John Saylor--what a great man he was. Thomas Kuchel, Republican from California was one. And he shortly became the deputy leader--the whip to Everett Dirksen, and the reason we got an overwhelming bipartisan vote, in the Senate, was Tom Kuchel. Tom Kuchel, so give him credit for it. What a great, great man he was. To show you the spirit of bipartisanship, we worked on Point Reyes together. When I went to his office, he'd say, ``Hi Stewie, what do you want today?'' And that's the way it was in that period. But the Wilderness Bill--Howard Zahniser--Mr. Zahniser--the man was a saint. He rewrote and touched up that bill 60 times over a period of 8 years. Every time Aspinall raised a new argument, he'd work on a little language and tried to offset it. He was truly a saintly person--a poet, a lover of Thoreau, a wonderful man.
But when the wilderness bill got off the ground, and too much we, all of us, when it's all over, like to take credit. I have been given more than my share tonight. Two persons I would single out are President John F. Kennedy and Senator Clinton Anderson of New Mexico. Clint Anderson had been as a young insurance man, a personal friend of Aldo Leopold in Albuquerque , and when he became chairman of the Committee after the 1960 election, and Kennedy was president. I didn't tell Kennedy what to do. Clint Anderson went to the White House and said, ``Kennedy didn't campaign on wilderness , I can't find anything in the campaign.'' He said put in your message to Congress on conservation--Presidents used to send up such messages, if they had a conservation program--a call for the enactment of a wilderness bill along the lines of Senate bill five--his bill. Kennedy put it in, and that electrified the country--to have a call like that. And in July the bill went to the floor of the Senate, and I'll tell you I was startled. I was startled, Senator Byrd. The vote was 78 to 12, and people all over the country--the conservationists--suddenly began to arouse and see how much power they have.
We give too much credit in my view--I was a Congressman--to members of Congress. Lyndon Johnson was great at that--``the Congress, they did it''. They enact laws, yes. But there was an upsurge, an uplifting of people. Conservation had been put on the shelf after Pearl Harbor and then there was a Cold War and Kennedy issued a call for national seashores and we got started on 14 of them. Some of them passed later on, but I have to say what made it all possible was a bipartisanship and affection between the members of the old generation--my generation. We were depression kids, we fought the war, we believed in mutual respect. That was what made it so wonderful in those days. And that spirit carried forward. Richard Nixon was a damn good conservation president.
I like metaphors, and I have likened what happened--we just saw the Olympics--to a relay race, because the work and conservation in those days was never finished. There was a pipeline. Heavens, it took Gaylord Nelson--because he wanted the people to accept it--12 years to do the Apostle Islands National Seashore. It took Bill Hart 10 years to do Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan . And this meant that when we came, and a different party won the White House, you carried the baton. I am not sure Nixon understood in the beginning, but they took it and they ran with it. Russell Train, Nat Reed--those wonderful people who put that ad in the newspaper last month that said ``Come back to the mainstream, come back to the main stream.'' And Gerald Ford carried it on, and Jimmy Carter. And then--no names mentioned--but a Secretary of the Interior when 1981 began, refused. In fact, he said--and I never understood where he was coming from--we've been going in the wrong direction for the last 20 years, so he wouldn't take the baton. And it has been on the floor ever since.
The bipartisanship by these five presidents was ended, and I want to say because there is so much doublespeak these days--don't let a president or his people say because he signed a wilderness bill that he is for wilderness . Does he issue a call for more wilderness ? That's the test. That's the test. The Land and Water Conservation Fund--oh I can take some credit on that, but I won't--too long. Do you know, 10 billion dollars in 1960 dollars, Senator Byrd, went into that program and half of it went to the states and they matched it, and almost 40 thousand projects--cities, counties, open space, playgrounds--boy, do we need playgrounds with this plague of obesity that is claiming this country. We ought to go back to that program.
Well that's enough, I guess, and you know how strongly I feel. The fight is not over, as everyone has said tonight. And we may have gaps and we have an ebb and flow. I'd like to believe, I am a troubled optimist, but there will be a flow again in terms of wilderness preservation. And I like to end, and my vision is gone so I have to memorize things. I can't use notes, I just blabber away. Congressman Aspinall--from Colorado --was an honorable man, as John Dingell and I have discussed. He was strong-headed, but an honorable man. Very stubborn and he could be dictatorial. He wouldn't even let his committee consider the bill--no hearings--no bill reported. John Saylor would say, `` Wayne , you cannot get away with this forever,'' and we tried to persuade him. Where was he? He said to me once, Stuart--I was one of his boys, I trained under him, he taught you a lot of things--and he said people that don't understand me, don't understand that my congressional district is a mining district. It had been a mining district. He was a great champion of the American Mining Congress. He regarded a wilderness bill as a lock up. That was the argument that Howard Zanhiser had to work against all the time. He said, ``Stuart, you may get a bill from out of my committee, but you might not recognize it.'' And so it came to a compromise. And he and Clinton Anderson were two old bulls that ended up hating and distrusting each other. And Anderson 's bill had all of the elements, the framework, and the language about how you identified a wilderness bill and how you passed a wilderness bill. And Anderson put in 50 million acres of lands that the Forest Service largely had already identified. Aspinall cut it back to nine. And they made the compromise because Anderson had to give in if he wanted to get a wilderness bill. So it was cut way back. Aspinall thought it might be true today--but not in the next 20 or 30 years--that if every bill had to pass individually through the Senate and House, that Congressmen who held the views that he did, would not want a wilderness in their area because it was locking up very valuable resources. And so that is the way it played out. And the wilderness bill--the essential elements of the wilderness bill--were there when the bill was passed. And this was a great moment for the country. What happened was the citizens all over the country--in the West and the East, the Congressmen and the Senators got behind wilderness bills, and that is why we have the 110 million acres today.[[Page S9929]]
I have to say one final thing about Mo Udall , my brother, and this is getting back, Senator Byrd, to your book because the whole democratic process as far as I can see, is gone in the House of Representatives. It's gone. We have another man that says no bill will go out of his committee unless it meets my personal standards. What kind of democracy is that? Mo Udall was committed to the idea--he wrote a book, it's been thrown away, ``The Job of A Congressman.'' A bill is introduced, you have hearings--everybody that wants to be heard can be heard--you have field hearings, you mark up a bill, the committees work their will--if it can survive the committee it goes to the floor of the House and the House works its will. That's democracy, and that's what he was committed to, and that is gone now. Things are tucked into appropriation bills now. A democracy has been watered down and disappeared, and that is one of the things Senator Byrd's book is about.
So let's bear that in mind, but don't give up. Don't give out--the fight goes on. I'm finally going to end, I'm sorry, I got carried away. The case for wilderness was made against the lock up argument by Clinton Anderson, who said " wilderness is an anchor to windward.'' Knowing it is there, we can go about our business of managing our resources wisely and not be a people in despair, ransacking our public lands for the last barrel of oil, the last board of timber, the last blade of grass, the last tank of water. That was Clint Anderson's answer to the lock up argument.
Wallace Stenger, as usual, caught the spirit in that wonderful essay he wrote in 1960. He said, ``We need this wild country even if we do no more than go to the edge and look in. We need it as a symbol of our sanity as creatures as part of the geography of hope.'' And Ansel Adams, the great photographer said it in a different way, and I once said, ``Ansel, can I apply your statement to the Grand Canyon and Yosemite ?'' ``Of course,'' he said Ansel was writing home after his first trip to New Mexico and he used these words: All is very beautiful and magical here. He is talking about the landscape. ``All is beautiful and magical here.'' A quality one cannot describe. He said, ``The sky and the land is so enormous and that the detail is so precise and exquisite,'' the eye of the photographer--``that wherever you are, there is a golden glow and everything is sideways under you and over you, and the clocks stopped long ago.''
Keep up the fight, and good night.
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Remarks by Senator Feinstein
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, this month our Nation celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. To commemorate the anniversary of this landmark legislation, I want to take a few moments to highlight the historic importance of this law, and remind us of some of the work remaining to be done.
When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law on September 3, 1964, it became our unambiguous national policy ``to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness .''
The legislation empowered those of us in Congress, with the ultimate approval of the President, to designate Federal lands for protection as part of our national wilderness preservation system. It was a tremendous accomplishment, immediately placing some 1.2 million acres of wilderness in 13 areas on national forest lands throughout my home State of California under statutory protection. And it protected another 8 million acres of land in other States.
But that was only the start. Over the ensuing four decades, Californians have welcomed acts of Congress that have expanded most of those initial areas. Today, those original 13 wilderness areas have grown to 1.7 million acres of wilderness firmly protected by statute.
The Wilderness Act also required that numerous other areas of Federal land be studied, with local public hearings, leading to Presidential recommendations for additional wilderness areas. Congress has enacted those proposals in California , beginning with the great San Rafael Wilderness near Santa Barbara in 1969--the first area added to the national wilderness system after the Wilderness Act became law.
Another early study focused on the 50,000-acre Ventana Primitive Area in the mountains along the central California coast above Big Sur --an area the U.S. Forest Service preserved in the 1930s. The study led Congress to establish the 98,000-acre Ventana Wilderness in 1969, with the leadership, among others, of California Senator Thomas Kuchel.
Since that time we have revisited this area in four additional laws, most recently when we passed and President George W. Bush signed a law in late 2002 further expanding this wilderness . As a result, the Ventana Wilderness now covers 240,000 acres.
Beyond the original Wilderness Act study areas, our California delegation has listened carefully to the diverse voices of the people of California . Year after year, we receive proposals for wilderness protection that come to us from ordinary citizens and organizations in our State, most often working in close consultation with the Federal land managing agencies involved and our State government.
Many of these proposals have been enacted, particularly for lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. As a result of all this work, California now boasts 130 wilderness areas comprising 14 million acres.
These California wilderness areas offer a diverse spectrum of landscapes and ecosystems, recreational opportunities and scenic vistas, from the high peaks and forested valleys of the Sierra, to the extraordinarily wild deserts that Senator Alan Cranston and I fought to protect in the California Desert Protection Act of 1994--one of my proudest achievements for the people of California .
In celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, I particularly stress that the work of preserving California 's wilderness heritage has always been a bipartisan endeavor. In our State, we enjoy wilderness areas found in the congressional districts of both Democrats and Republicans, protected in laws signed by every President since this program began 40 years ago--Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
The act itself became law after 8 years of congressional debate. Endorsed by the Eisenhower administration and the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the act was shaped by practical-minded people, mostly westerners. It is, as Senator Kuchel said during those Senate debates, ``reasonable . . . not extreme in any degree.''
Senator Kuchel insisted that the law not conflict with State water rights and that the act respect existing mining claims and established grazing uses. At the same time, Senator Kuchel reminded his colleagues that protecting wilderness watersheds is key to abundant, clean water supplies--the lifeblood of California 's ranching and agricultural sector, our thriving cities and towns, and the economic well-being of our entire Nation.
Still, there is more wilderness to be protected and more work to be done. These days, Federal lands that deserve a fair look by Congress are, in some cases, under threat from other kinds of use that are inconsistent with the preservation of wilderness . This is the kind of careful balancing Congress undertakes as we make these decisions.
This Congress has a great opportunity to preserve even more stunning wilderness by completing action on the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act that I have cosponsored with my colleague Senator Barbara Boxer. This bill has the strong and effective support of Representative Mike Thompson, in whose district every acre of its proposed wilderness areas is situated, and the support of numerous cosponsors, including California Representatives from both sides of the aisle.
Among the 300,000 acres this priority bill would protect is the 42,000-acre King Range Wilderness , a wild expanse on our California ``lost coast'' south of Eureka . Many of the proposals in this bill are based on agency recommendations or proposals by local citizens like the Humboldt County nurse who has been working to save the King Range for 20 years. These areas enjoy strong support, as wilderness , from local business owners in the area, from hunting and fishing enthusiasts, from dedicated backpackers to young parents hiking or backpacking to introduce their children or their grandchildren to nature at its most wild.
Similarly worthy, bipartisan proposals await action for wilderness sponsored by our colleagues from New Mexico and Washington . And no less worthy is the proposed wilderness area designation for an area on the Caribbean National Forest in Puerto Rico --a wilderness area proposed by the U.S. Forest Service more than three decades ago.[[Page S9930]]
As we consider these wilderness proposals, we can generally rely upon existing standards and interpretations of the Wilderness Act. Thanks to our predecessors we have a wealth of guidance in the legislative history of the Wilderness Act and the more than 100 laws Congress has enacted since to protect additional lands.
Now, as we celebrate the 40th year of the Wilderness Act, the preservation of our wilderness has never been more important. Population growth, especially in the Western United States , is placing increased pressure on our public lands. That is why it was so critical that our leaders acted 40 years ago and why it is urgent that we continue to preserve our Nation's natural treasures today.
John Muir once said, ``Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.''
For 40 years, the Wilderness Act has entrusted Congress and the American people with the means to preserve that beauty.
Statements to the Congressional Record
Several Senators submitted statements to the Congressional Record this week commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act. Remarks by Senators Russ Feingold, Robert Byrd, Harry Reid, and Barbara Boxer appear below. They can also be found in the September 28, 2004, edition of the Congressional Record pages S9774-S9776.
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Remarks By Senator Russ Feingold
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, September 3, 2004, marked the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. I have introduced a resolution, S. Res. 387, commemorating this important milestone, and I hope the Senate will approve this resolution, which has 18 cosponsors, before we adjourn for the year.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the many people who have helped us preserve over 106 million acres of wilderness for future generations to hike, to hunt, to fish, and to enjoy.
People such as Howard Zahniser, Olaus and Mardy Murie, Ceila Hunter, and Bob Marshall had the vision to protect our wild places. Legislators such as John Saylor and Hubert Humphrey listened to them and made their vision a reality.
As a Senator from Wisconsin , I feel a special bond with this issue. My State has produced great wilderness thinkers and leaders, such as the writer and conservationist Aldo Leopold, whose ``A Sand County Almanac'' helped to galvanize the environmental movement; like Sierra Club founder John Muir; and like Sigurd Olson, one of the founders of the Wilderness Society.
Senator Clinton Anderson of New Mexico said that his support of the wilderness system was the direct result of discussions he had held almost 40 years before with Leopold. And then-Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall referred to Leopold as the instigator of the modern wilderness movement.
For others, the ideas of Olson and Muir--particularly the idea that preserving wilderness is a way for us to better understand our country's history and the frontier experience--provided an important justification for the wilderness system.
I am privileged to hold the Senate seat held by Gaylord Nelson, a man for whom I have the greatest admiration and respect. He is a well-known and widely respected former Senator and two-term Governor of Wisconsin, and the founder of Earth Day. What I find so remarkable is that, even after a distinguished career in public service, he continues to work for conservation. He is currently devoting his time to the protection of wilderness by serving as a counselor to the Wilderness Society--an activity which is quite appropriate for someone who was a co-sponsor, along with former Senator Proxmire, of the bill that became the Wilderness Act.
I am proud of Wisconsin 's part in making this legislation law, and I am proud to carry on that tradition through the Senate Wilderness Caucus.
I also wish to thank my colleagues the senior Senator from West Virginia , Mr. BYRD, the senior Senator from Massachusetts , Mr. KENNEDY, and the senior Senator from Hawaii , Mr. INOUYE, all of whom served in the Senate in 1964 and voted for the Wilderness Act.
That Act was the first piece of legislation in the world to preserve wild places. Forty years after the act passed, wilderness still enjoys widespread, bipartisan support. Just recently the Bush administration announced its recommendation for wilderness designation of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin , a place that is near and dear to my heart and to the hearts of many Wisconsinites. I thank my former staffer Mary Frances Repko, who for 9 years worked tirelessly to promote, protect, and push for a wilderness study for the Apostles Islands , and to preserve America 's public lands.
In closing, I would like to remind colleagues of the words of Aldo Leopold in his 1949 book, ``A Sand County Almanac.'' He said, ``The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not the television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only those who know the most about it can appreciate how little is known about it.'' We still have much to learn, but this anniversary of the Wilderness Act reminds us how far we have come and how the commitment to public lands that the Senate and the Congress demonstrated 40 years ago continues to benefit all Americans.
I yield the floor.
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Remarks By Senator Robert C. Byrd
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I recently received a letter from Mrs. Margaret Baker of Hillsboro, WV, who wrote of "how important wilderness areas are to the quality of life in West Virginia." Writing about West Virginia's Cranberry Wilderness Area, she explains that, in this special place "you can take your children here and actually see what nature looks like when it's not in a neatly labeled museum exhibit, when the animals aren't in cages and the trees aren't trimmed into perfect little bricketts of shrubbery."
Mrs. Baker's letter continues:
"My husband and I hike in the Cranberry Wilderness and always see something that is astonishing, a forest of ferns, an abstract art work of lichen or sunset colored mushrooms. You can see a picture of a wilderness area but unless you smell it, and feel the mud under your boots, experience the light shining on it and hear the birds and crickets, you can't really appreciate how amazing the offerings of the planet are. I think West Virginians have a duty to preserve this reminder of what is good and wholesome and worth being optimistic about in our world. Help keep West Virginia wild."
I share that letter today for several reasons. The first is that Mrs. Baker's letter gives me the opportunity to boast of the natural beauty of West Virginia , which everyone knows I like to do. One should not doubt that areas like the Cranberry Wilderness are both beautiful and unique. This incredible area of 35,864 acres of broad and massive mountains and deep, narrow valleys is the State's largest wilderness area.
As Mrs. Baker's letter so movingly indicates, visitors to the Cranberry Wilderness directly and vividly experience nature. Its wildlife includes black bear, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, mink, bobcat, numerous varieties of birds, and many species of reptiles. The waters of the Cranberry Wilderness are home to brook trout and several species of amphibians. Vegetation in the area includes spruce and hemlock at the higher elevations and hardwood trees such as black cherry and yellow birch and thickets of rhododendrons and mountain laurel in the lower terrain.
How exciting and rewarding it is to know that individuals like Mrs. Baker are able to use and enjoy this great wilderness. I certainly agree with Mrs. Baker that we "have a duty to preserve this [and other] reminders of what is good and wholesome."
That brings me to my second reason for sharing Mrs. Baker's letter with you. This year, 2004, is the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964, which was enacted to ensure that special places like the Cranberry Wilderness would be protected for future generations. In an era of "an ever increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization," the Wilderness Act declared that we must secure the land where "the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man and where man himself is a visitor."
My home State of West Virginia has certainly benefited from the creation of wilderness areas, and the Cranberry Wilderness is just one of the five wilderness areas in my State. The others include Dolly Sods, Otter Creek, Laurel Fork North, and Laurel Fork South Wilderness Areas, and West Virginia remains wild and wonderful, in part, because of Congress's actions. Furthermore, our Nation's 662 wilderness areas have given Americans a freedom to explore. This freedom has been secured and protected so that future generations also may enjoy the beauty of God's creation.
Covered from end to end, and on all sides, by the ancient Appalachian Mountains, West Virginia is exquisite in its natural splendor. It is the most southern of the northern; the most northern of the southern; the most eastern of the western; and the most western of the eastern States. It is where the east says "good morning" to the west, and where Yankee Doodle and Dixie kiss each other goodnight.
It is only fitting that, on the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, we cast our eyes backward so that we might have insight into how to better prepare for future events. On a whole range of important issues, the Senate has always been blessed with Senators who were able to reach across party lines and consider, first and foremost, the national interest.
Our late colleague, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey was certainly such a person. He introduced the first wilderness bill in the Senate in 1956 and was there for its passage in 1964. Other former colleagues had this ability, including Senators Scoop Jackson, Clinton Anderson, Frank Church, Richard Russell, and Mike Mansfield. They understood the art of legislating, and they reveled in it. For this and other reasons, I am also honored to be associated with such Senators and to be the recipient of the Hubert H. Humphrey Wilderness Leadership Award that was presented to me earlier this month.
As we look back 40 years, we can see how the seeds of legislation have blossomed. This certainly rings true of the passage of the Wilderness Act. Through four Congresses, Members on both sides of the aisle worked through the key challenges and made the right compromises rather than simply succumbing to the purely political tactics and rhetoric that seem to dominate today. The debate on the Wilderness Act should serve as a great example of how Members of both parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives can come together to pass historic pieces of legislation.
It is hard for me to believe that 40 years have passed since Congress first approved the Wilderness Act. It is also hard to believe that only Senators INOUYE and KENNEDY and I remain in the Senate as Members who voted for that original legislation. Yet today we can proudly say that the original designation of 9.1 million acres in that first bill has expanded to more than 105 million acres in 44 States. I believe that this landmark legislation should serve as a lesson for those who are seeking guidance regarding other important measures before this and future Congresses.
In closing, I am reminded of the immortal words of one of America 's foremost conservationists and outdoorsmen, John Muir:
Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, inciting at once to work and rest! Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God. Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessing of one mountain day: whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever. . . . I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was going in.
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Remarks By Senator Harry Reid
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
From the days of the earliest settlers, wilderness has always been a defining part of our national heritage. Simply put, the American wilderness helped shape the American values of freedom, opportunity and independence.
As it did in 1964, Nevada still contains many of the wildest and least traveled places in the lower 48 States. The remote and untamed areas of Nevada represent a reservoir of challenges and opportunities for hunters, fishermen, birdwatchers, photographers, and other outdoorsmen.
We all play a stewardship role, and I am proud of the job our nation has done and continues to do in upholding these uniquely American values.
In particular, I would like to recognize four individuals from my home State of Nevada who are true wilderness heroes.
Marge Sill has advocated protecting wild places for more than 4 decades. She worked to pass the 1964 Act, as well as every Nevada wilderness bill since then. Marge helped establish the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and has mentored multiple generations of wilderness advocates.
Hermie and John Hiatt have been leaders in Nevada conservation efforts for more than 2 decades. Their tireless advocacy for wilderness and environmental protection particularly in southern and eastern Nevada serves as inspiration for many. Their interest in and knowledge of the science behind conservation serves Nevada well.
Finally I would like to recognize Roger Scholl, who played a key role in the development of the 1989 Nevada Wilderness Protection Act. In a quiet but effective and reasonable manner, Roger has consistently sought to develop consensus wilderness proposals. From Mt. Moriah and the Schell Creek Range in White Pine County to Mr. Rose and High Rock Canyon in Washoe County, Roger's work on wilderness issues has benefited Nevada and our Nation. His counsel has served me well.
Through the work of these Nevadans the number of Nevada wildernesses has grown from one, the Jarbidge Wilderness, to more than 40 in 40 years. I commend them for their work on behalf of Nevada and the Nation.
As President Lyndon Johnson said upon signing the Wilderness Act, ``If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning.''
With stewards such as these four great Nevadans, If know that our Nation's great wilderness heritage will be secure for generations to come.
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Remarks By Senator Barbara Boxer
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, forty years ago this month, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Act, which set aside some of the most quintessential American landscapes in this vast country. This visionary law first protected about 9 million acres of public lands. Today, as a result of a bipartisan commitment by successive Congresses and Presidents, 105 million acres of land are protected in 44 States.
California is blessed to have nearly 14 million acres permanently protected as wilderness for the public to enjoy and as a legacy for future generations. These areas include some of the most spectacular lands and diverse ecosystems, including forests, deserts, coastal mountains and grasslands.
Americans have long recognized the need to protect our public lands and their vast resources. John Muir, along with U.S. presidents from both parties, including Teddy Roosevelt, foresaw the need for us to protect these precious lands, lest they be lost forever.
Wilderness provides a place of refuge from urban pressures. Millions of Americans retreat to wilderness to fish, hunt, horseback ride, cross-country ski, hike and pursue other recreational breaks from everyday life.
Wilderness protects watersheds that provide clean water to our cities and farms. Forests cleanse our air and provide habitat for countless plant and animal species, many of which are endangered. Wilderness provides something else that is harder to measure, solitude and peace. California 's population of nearly 36 million will balloon to 50 million in the next 20 years, so space will become even more precious.
I am pleased to cosponsor Senator Feingold's resolution honoring the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. I am also pleased to be the author of the California Wild Heritage Act, which would protect approximately 2.5 million acres of public lands as wilderness. The areas that would be protected by this legislation include: the King Range on the Lost Coast in Northern California; the White Mountains in eastern California, home to the ancient Bristlecone Pines; and Eagle Peak in San Diego County, which includes the headwaters of the San Diego River and is home to great plant and animal diversity.
These and many other areas deserve the protection that was envisioned back in 1964, when the Wilderness Act was signed into law.
I believe that our beautiful and varied landscapes help make us the people that we are. Today, we look back and are thankful for those who worked to set aside the rich tapestry that is our wilderness heritage. But looking back is not enough. We must also dedicate ourselves to securing the irreplaceable remaining unprotected wilderness areas as our legacy for those who follow us.
Senator John McCain's Senate Speech | Remarks by former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall
Remarks by Senator Feinstein | Remarks By Senator Russ Feingold
Remarks By Senator Robert C. Byrd | Remarks By Senator Harry Reid
Remarks By Senator Barbara Boxer
