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The Wilderness Act of 1964: Summary

Background

Enactment: September 3, 1964

Related legislation: Forest Management Acts of 1897, 1899, and 1901 (Organic Act); Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960; National Environmental Policy Act; National Forest Management Act of 1976; Clean Air Act. Also, subsequent legislation designates additional wilderness areas and may authorize additional activities and uses within those areas. These area-specific authorized uses have included snowmobiling, mineral exploration and development, fencing, maintenance of water infrastructure (including water diversion), fire prevention activities, motorized administrative access to fire roads, small motorized watercraft, access for pipeline maintenance, etc. (Gorte 1998)

Implementation and enforcement: The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior hold ultimate responsibility. Any federal agency with jurisdiction over an area retains responsibility when that area is declared as wilderness; these include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service. No additional funding is given to these agencies for management of designated wilderness.

Intent

The intent of the Wilderness Act is:

" 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" and to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. (16 U.S.C. 1131-1136 § 2(a))

In order to meet this goal, the Wilderness Act lays the foundation for a National Wilderness Preservation System comprised of federal lands "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor and does not remain." (16 U.S.C. 1131-1136 § 2(c)) Although the definition of wilderness has been clarified through designations of federal wilderness areas and in the courts, and although significant changes have been made in its implementation, the general function of the Act has remained the same: to set aside large areas of federally owned land and prevent them from being used in ways that would disturb their "pristine" condition.

In general (and with numerous exceptions), designated wilderness areas are protected from commercial enterprises, construction of roads, any kind of mechanical transport (including motor vehicles, motorized equipment, and motorboats), and construction of any structure or installation (16 U.S.C. 1131-1136 § 4(c)).

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